MARCH 20TH, 1899 RENFREW. EASTERN CANADA.
EXT. RAILWAY SHED YARDS - EARLY MORNING
Mist, a numbingly cold frost.
An unused railway car on a siding by the main track near the railway station. We hear the two men beating their hands together, trying to keep warm, and snatches of their conversation before we make out their figures, words like 'Klondike' and 'freeze the tits off a bull' and 'a little house and garden'.
There is the sound of whistles, the clanking of a train getting set for motion.
DAVIES pulls at THREE FINGERED JACK’S sleeve.
DAVIES
You jump first, OK?
Three fingered Jack nods. The sound of the train starting to move, it begins to show through the mist.
DAVIES (CONT’D)OK. Let's go.
The engine passes and the two men are running. They are up close as the carriages come into view and begin to gather speed. A gangway is coming up alongside them.
DAVIES (CONT’D)
Jump
Three fingered Jack jumps. He catches the rail, and without problem springs on to the step. Davies grabs the bar, but has to run with the train because Three fingered Jack does not move up to the platform.
DAVIES (CONT’D)
Move, get off the step.
The train is going fast now. It seems an age before Three fingered Jack very deliberately climbs to the platform.
Taking a firm hold of the bar, Davies jumps.
A steam belch from the engine fills the screen.
TWENTY FIVE YEARS EARLIER