CHAPTER VI
AN UNPLEASANT SURPRISE
On sped the fugitive train once more, and in a few minutes it had stopped,with much bumping and rattle of brakes at the station called Adairsville.Hardly had the wheels of the faithful old "General" ceased revolvingbefore a whistle was heard from the northward.
Andrews peered through the cab up the track. "It's the regular freight,"he said, and calling to the station hands who were gaping at "Fuller'strain," as they supposed it must be, he told them the customary storyabout the powder designed for General Beauregard. They believed theleader, who spoke with his old air of authority, and they quickly shuntedhis "special" on to the side track. No sooner had this been accomplishedthan the freight made its appearance.
As the engine of the latter passed slowly by "The General" Andrews shoutedto the men in the cab: "Where's the passenger train that is on theschedule?"
"It ought to be right behind us," came the answer.
"That's good," whispered Andrews. "Once let us pass that passenger, andwe'll have a clear road to the very end of the line."
In the meantime the freight was moved past the station and switched on tothe siding, directly behind the "special," there to wait the arrival ofthe passenger train.
George began to grow restless, as the minutes passed and no trainappeared. At last, with the permission of Andrews, he jumped from the cab,and walked over to the platform, Waggie following close at his heels. Helooked anxiously up the track, but he could see nothing, hear nothing.
Two young men, one of them a civilian and the other evidently a soldierwho was home on furlough (to judge by his gray uniform and right arm in asling), were promenading up and down, and smoking clay pipes.
"I don't understand it," the soldier was saying. "They talk about sendingpowder through to General Beauregard, but it's an utter impossibility todo it."
"You're right," said his friend. "The thing looks fishy. If these fellowsare really what they----"
"Hush," whispered the soldier. He pointed to George as he spoke. "Well,you're beginning railroading pretty young," he added aloud, scrutinizingthe boy as if he would like to read his inmost thoughts.
"It's never too young to begin," answered the boy, carelessly.
"What is this powder train of yours, anyway?" asked the soldier, in awheedling voice which was meant to be plausible and friendly.
George had heard enough of the conversation between the two youngSoutherners to know that they were more than curious about the supposedpowder train. And now, he thought, they would try to entrap him into somedamaging admission. He must be on his guard. He put on as stupid a look ashe could assume (which was no easy task in the case of a boy with suchintelligent features), as he replied stolidly: "Dunno. I've nothing to dowith it. I'm only fireman on the engine."
"But you know where you're going?" demanded the soldier, with a gesture ofimpatience.
"Dunno."
"Who is the tall chap with the beard who has charge of the train?"
"Dunno."
"How much powder have you got on board?"
"Dunno."
"I don't suppose you even know your own name, you little idiot!" cried thesoldier. "The boy hasn't got good sense," he said, turning to his friend.
"You were never more mistaken in your life," answered his friend. "He'sonly playing a game. I know something about faces--and this boy here haslots of sense."
George called Waggie, put the animal in his pocket, and walked to the doorof the little station without taking any notice of this compliment to hissagacity. Under the circumstances he should have preferred the deepestinsult. He felt that a long detention at Adairsville would be dangerous,perhaps fatal.
Opening the door, the boy entered the station. It comprised a cheerlesswaiting-room, with a stove, bench and water-cooler for furniture, and alittle ticket office at one end. The ticket office was occupied by thestation-agent, who was near the keyboard of the telegraph wire; otherwisethe interior of the building was empty.
"Heard anything from the passenger yet?" asked George, as he walkedunconcernedly into the ticket office.
"Just wait a second," said the man, his right hand playing on the board;"I'm telegraphing up the line to Calhoun to find out where she is. Thewires aren't working to the south, somehow, but they're all right to thenorth."
Click, click, went the instrument. George returned leisurely to thedoorway of the waiting-room. He was just in time to hear the young soldiersay to his friend: "If these fellows try to get away from here, just let'em go. I'll send a telegram up the road giving warning that they arecoming, and should be stopped as a suspicious party. If they don't findthemselves in hot water by the time they get to Dalton I'm a bigger foolthan I think I am."
George stood stock still. Here was danger indeed! He knew that to send atelegram up the road would be but the work of a minute; it could go overthe wires to the north before the "special" had pulled away fromAdairsville.
At this moment the station-agent came out of his office. "The passenger isbehind time," he said, and he ran quickly across the tracks to speak toAndrews, who was looking anxiously out from the cab of "The General."
"It's now or never," thought George. He turned back into the desertedwaiting-room, entered the ticket-office, and pulled from the belt underhis inner coat a large revolver--the weapon which he carried in caseself-defense became necessary. Taking the barrel of the revolver, he triedto pry up the telegraphic keyboard from the table to which it wasattached. But he found this impossible to accomplish; he could secure noleverage on the instrument. He was not to be thwarted, however; sochanging his tactics, he took the barrel in his hand and began to rainheavy blows upon the keys, with the butt end. In less time than it takesto describe the episode, the instrument had been rendered totallyuseless.
"There," he said to himself, with the air of a conqueror, "it will taketime to repair that damage, or to send a telegram." He was about to leavethe office when he discovered a portable battery under the table. It wasan instrument that could be attached to a wire, in case of emergency.George hastily picked it up, and hurried into the waiting-room. It wouldnever do to leave this battery behind in the office; but how could he takeit away without being caught in the act? His eyes wandered here and there,until they rested upon the stove. There was no fire in it. An inspirationcame to him. He opened the iron door, which was large, and threw thebattery into the stove. Then he closed the door, and sauntered carelesslyout to the platform. The soldier and his friend were now standing at somedistance from the station, on a sidewalk in front of a grocery store. Theywere engaged in earnest conversation. Over on the side-track, where "TheGeneral" stood, the station-agent was talking to Andrews. George joinedhis leader, and sprang into the cab.
"From what I hear," said Andrews, "the passenger train is so much behindtime that if I make fast time I can get to Calhoun before it arrivesthere, and wait on a siding for it to pass us."
"Then why don't you move on," urged George, who happened to know howdesirable it was to get away, but dared not drop any hint to his leader inthe presence of the station-agent.
"You're taking a risk," said the station-agent. "You may strike the trainbefore you reach Calhoun." He was evidently not suspicious, but he fearedan accident.
"If I meet the train before we reach Calhoun," cried Andrews, striking hisfist against the window-ledge of the cab, "why then she must back till shegets a side-track, and then we will pass her."
He turned and looked at his engineer and the assistant.
"Are you ready to go, boys?" he asked. They quickly nodded assent; theylonged to be off again.
"Then go ahead!" ordered Andrews. "A government special must not bedetained by any other train on the road!"
"The General" was away once more. George began to explain to Andrews whathe had heard at the station, and how he had disabled the telegraph.
"You're a brick!" cried the leader, patting the boy approvingly on theshoulder; "and you have saved us from another sc
rape. But 'tis better toprovide against any repairing of the telegraph--and the sooner we cut awire and obstruct the track, the better for us."
Thus it happened that before the train had gone more than three miles "TheGeneral" was stopped, more wires were cut, and several cross-ties werethrown on the track in the rear. Then the train dashed on, this time at aterrific speed. Andrews hoped to reach Calhoun, seven miles away, beforethe passenger should arrive there. It was all that George could do to keephis balance, particularly when he was called upon to feed the engine firewith wood from the tender. Once Waggie, who showed a sudden disposition tosee what was going on around him, and tried to crawl out from his master'spocket, came very near being hurled out of the engine. Curves and upgrades seemed all alike to "The General"; the noble steed never slackenedits pace for an instant. The engineer was keeping his eyes on a point wayup the line, so that he might slow up if he saw any sign of the passenger;the assistant sounded the whistle so incessantly that George thought hishead would split from the noise. Once, at a road crossing, they whirled bya farm wagon containing four men. The boy had a vision of four mouthsopened very wide. In a second wagon and occupants were left far behind.
In a space of time which seemed incredibly short Calhoun was reached. Downwent the brakes and "The General" slid into the station to find directlyin front, on the same track, the long-expected passenger train.
"There she is!" cried Andrews; "and not before it's time!"
It was only by the most strenuous efforts that the engineer could keep"The General" from colliding with the locomotive of the opposing train.When he brought his obedient iron-horse to a standstill there was only thedistance of a foot between the cowcatchers of the two engines. Theengineer of the passenger train leaned from his cab and began to indulgein impolite language. "What d'ye mean," he shouted, "by trying to run medown?" And he added some expressions which would not have passed muster incultivated society.
"Clear the road! Clear the road!" roared Andrews. "This powder train mustgo through to General Beauregard at once! We can't stay here a minute!"
These words acted like a charm. The passenger train was backed to asiding, and "The General" and its burden were soon running out ofCalhoun.
"No more trains!" said Andrews. His voice was husky; the perspiration wasstreaming from his face. "Now for a little bridge burning. There's abridge a short distance up the road, across the Oostenaula River, where wecan begin the real business of the day. But before we get to it let usstop 'The General' and see what condition he is in."
"He has behaved like a gentleman, so far," said the engineer. "He must bein sympathy with us Northerners."
"Slow up!" ordered Andrews. "The old fellow is beginning to wheeze alittle bit; I can tell that he needs oiling."
Obedient to the command, the engineer brought "The General" to a halt. Asthe men came running from the baggage car, Andrews ordered them to take upanother rail.
"It's good exercise, boys," he laughed, "even if it may not be actuallynecessary."
Then he helped his engineers to inspect "The General." The engine wasstill in excellent condition, although the wood and water were running alittle low. It received a quick oiling, while George climbed up atelegraph pole and severed a wire in the manner heretofore described.Eight of the party were pulling at a rail, one end of which was loose andthe other still fastened to the cross-ties by spikes.
Suddenly, away to the southward, came the whistle of an engine. Had athunderbolt descended upon the men, the effect could not have been morestartling. The workers at the rail tore it away from the track, in theirwild excitement, and, losing their balance, fell headlong down the side ofthe embankment on which they had been standing. They were up again thenext instant, unhurt, but eager to know the meaning of the whistle.
Was there an engine in pursuit? Andrews looked down the track.
"See!" he cried.
There _was_ something to gaze at. Less than a mile away a largelocomotive, which was reversed so that the tender came first, was runningrapidly up the line, each instant approaching nearer and nearer to thefugitives. In the tender stood men who seemed to be armed with muskets.
"They are after us," said Andrews. "There's no doubt about it." He wasvery calm now; he spoke as if he were discussing the most commonplacematter in the world.
His companions crowded around him.
"Let us stand and fight them!" cried Watson.
"Yes," urged Jenks, who had forgotten all about his sore back; "we canmake a stand here!"
Andrews shook his head. "Better go on, boys," he answered. "We have takenout this rail, and that will delay them. In the meantime we can go on tothe Oostenaula bridge and burn it."
There was no time for discussion. The men yielded their usual assent tothe orders of their chief. They quickly scrambled back into the train, totheir respective posts, and Andrews gave the signal for departure.
"Push the engine for all it's worth!" he commanded; "we must make thebridge before the enemy are on us." The engineer set "The General" goingat a rattling pace.
"How on earth could we be pursued, after the way we cut the wires alongthe line," muttered the leader. "Can the enemy have telegraphed from BigShanty to Kingston by some circuitous route? I don't understand."
"Are you making full speed?" he asked the engineer, a second later.
"The old horse is doing his best," answered the man, "but the wood isgetting precious low."
"George, pour some engine oil into the furnace."
The boy seized the oil can, and obeyed the order. The speed of "TheGeneral" increased; the engine seemed to spring forward like a horse towhich the spur has been applied.
"That's better," said Andrews. "Now if we can only burn that bridge beforethe enemy are up to us, there is still a chance for success--and life!"His voice sank almost to a whisper as he uttered the last word. With astrange, indescribable sensation, George suddenly realized how near theyall were to disaster, even to death. He thought of his father, and then hethought of Waggie, and wondered what was to become of the little dog. Theboy was cool; he had no sense of fear; it seemed as if he were figuring insome curious dream.
Suddenly Andrews left the engine, lurched into the tender, and began toclimb out of it, and thence to the platform of the first baggage car.George looked back at him in dread; surely the leader would be hurled fromthe flying train and killed. But he reached the car in safety and openedthe door. He shouted out an order which George could not hear, so greatwas the rattle of the train; then he made his way, with the ease of asure-footed chamois, back to "The General." He had ordered the men in thecar to split up part of its sides for kindling-wood. By the use of thecross-ties, which they had picked up along the road, they battered downsome of the planking of the walls, and quickly reduced it to smallerpieces. It was a thrilling sight. The men worked as they had never workedbefore. It was at the imminent risk of falling out, however, and as thetrain swung along over the track it seemed a miracle that none of themwent flying through the open sides of the now devastated car.
On rushed "The General." As it turned a curve George, who was now in thetender, glanced back to his right and saw--the pursuing engine less than amile behind.
"They are after us again!" he shouted. "They have gotten past the brokenrail somehow," he said. "They must have track repairing instruments onboard."
Andrews set his lips firmly together like a man who determines to fight tothe last.
George made his way back to the cab. "Will we have time to burn thebridge?" he asked.
"We must wait and see," answered the leader, as he once more left theengine and finally reached the despoiled baggage car. He said something toJenks; then he returned to the cab.
"What are you going to do?" anxiously asked the boy. He could hear theshrill whistle of the pursuing locomotive. "Com-ing! Com-ing!" it seemedto say to his overwrought imagination.
Andrews made no answer to George; instead he shouted a command to theengineer: "Reverse your engine, and move
backwards at full speed!"
The engineer, without asking any questions, did as he was told. Jenks ranthrough to the second car and contrived, after some delay caused by theroughness of the motion, to uncouple it from the third. This last car wasnow entirely loose from the train, and would have been left behind had itnot been that the engine had already begun to go back. Faster and fastermoved "The General" to the rear.
"Go forward again," finally ordered Andrews. The engine slowly came to astandstill, and then plunged forward once more. Now George could see themeaning of this manoeuvre. The third car, being uncoupled, went runningback towards the enemy's tender. Andrews hoped to effect a collision.
But the engineer of the pursuing locomotive was evidently ready for suchan emergency. He reversed his engine, and was soon running backwards. Whenthe baggage car struck the tender no harm was done; the shock must havebeen very slight. In another minute the enemy's engine was puffing onwardagain in the wake of the fugitives, while the car was being pushed alongin front of the tender.
"That didn't work very well," said Andrews, placidly. "Let's try themagain."
Once more "The General" was reversed. This time the second car wasuncoupled and sent flying back. "The General" was now hauling only thetender and the one baggage car in which the majority of the members of theparty were confined. The second attempt, however, met with no betterresult than the first: the enemy pursued the same tactics as before;reversing the locomotive, and avoiding a serious collision. It now startedanew on the pursuit, pushing the two unattached cars ahead of it,apparently little hampered as to speed by the incumbrance. And now,unfortunately enough, the bridge was in plain view, only a few hundredyards ahead. As the enemy turned a new curve George caught a view of thetender. A dozen men, armed with rifles, were standing up in it; he couldsee the gleam of the rifle barrels.
"More oil," ordered Andrews. The boy seized the can, and poured some moreof the greasy liquid into the fiery furnace. He knew that the wood wasalmost exhausted, and that it would soon be impossible to hold the presentrate of progress. Oh, if there only would be time to burn the bridge, andthus check the pursuers! But he saw that he was hoping for theimpracticable.
"Shall we stop on the bridge?" asked the engineer, in a hoarse voice.
"It's too late," answered Andrews. "Keep her flying."
Over the bridge went the engine, with the pursuers only a short distancebehind.
"Let us have some of that kindling-wood for the furnace," shouted Andrewsto the men in the baggage car. The men began to pitch wood from the doorof the car into the tender, and George transferred some of it to thefurnace.
"That's better," cried the engineer. "We need wood more than we need akingdom!"
"Throw out some of those cross-ties," thundered the leader. The mendropped a tie here and there on the track, so that a temporary obstructionmight be presented to the pursuing locomotive.
"That's some help," said Andrews, as he craned his neck out of the cabwindow and looked back along the line. "Those ties will make them stop awhile, any way." In fact the enemy had already stopped upon encounteringthe first log; two men from the tender were moving it from the track.
"We've a good fighting chance yet," cried Andrews, whose enthusiasm hadsuddenly returned. "If we can burn another bridge, and block thesefellows, the day is ours!"
"The water in the boiler is almost gone!" announced the engineer.
George's heart sank. What meant all the wood in the world without a goodsupply of water? But Andrews was equal to the emergency. "Can you hold outfor another mile or so?" he asked.
"Just about that, and no more," came the answer.
"All right. We are about to run by Tilton station. A little beyond that,if I remember rightly, is a water tank." Andrews, in his capacity as a spywithin the Southern lines, knew Georgia well, and had frequently traveledover this particular railroad. It was his acquaintance with the line,indeed, that had enabled him to get through thus far without failure.
Past Tilton ran "The General," as it nearly swept two frightened rusticsfrom the platform. Then the engine began to slow up, until it finallyrested at the water tank.
"I was right," said Andrews. He leaped from the cab, and gazed down theline. "The enemy is not in sight now," he cried. "Those ties are givingthem trouble. Put some more on the track, boys. George, try some morewire-cutting. Brown, get your boiler filled."
In an incredibly short space of time the telegraph wire had been cut, theengine was provided with water, and some more ties had been placed uponthe track in the rear. What a curious scene the party presented; howtired, and dirty, yet how courageous they all looked.
"Shall we take up a rail?" demanded Macgreggor. Scarcely had the wordsleft his lips before the whistle of the enemy was again heard.
"No time," shouted the leader. "Let's be off!"
Off went the train--the grimy, panting engine, the tender, and the onebaggage car, which was now literally torn to pieces in the franticendeavor to provide kindling-wood.
"We want more wood," George shouted back to the men after they hadproceeded a couple of miles. Some wood was thrown into the tender from thebaggage car, with the gloomy news: "This is all we have left!"
"No more wood after this," explained George.
"All right," answered Andrews, very cheerfully. "Tell them to throw out afew more ties on the track--as long as they're too big to burn in ourfurnace."
The order was shouted back to the car. It was instantly obeyed. There wasnow another obstruction for the enemy; but George wondered how Andrews,full of resources though he might be, would find more wood for the engine.But Andrews was equal even to this.
"Stop!" cried the leader, after they had passed up the line about a milefrom where the ties had been last thrown out. "The General" was soonmotionless, breathing and quivering like some blooded horse which had beensuddenly reined in during a race.
"Here's more work for you, boys," cried Andrews. He was already on theground, pointing to the wooden fences which encompassed the fields on bothsides of the track. The men needed no further prompting. In less thanthree minutes a large number of rails were reposing in the tender. Georgeregarded them with an expression of professional pride, as befitted thefireman of the train.
"No trouble about wood or water now," he said, as "The General" toreonward again.
"No," replied the leader. "We will beat those Southerners yet!" Hepositively refused to think of failure at this late stage of the game. Yetit was a game that did not seem to promise certain success.
Thus the race continued, with "The General" sometimes rocking and reelinglike a drunken man. On they rushed, past small stations, swinging aroundcurves with the men in the car sitting on the floor and clinging to oneanother for fear they would be knocked out by the roughness of the motion.As George thought of this terrible journey in after years he wondered whyit was that engine, car and passengers were not hurled headlong from thetrack.
"We are coming to Dalton," suddenly announced Andrews. Dalton was agood-sized town twenty-two miles above Calhoun, and formed a junction withthe line running to Cleveland, Tennessee.
"We must be careful here," said Andrews, "for we don't know who may bewaiting to receive us. If a telegram was sent via the coast up toRichmond, and then down to Dalton, our real character may be known. Brown,be ready to reverse your engine if I give the signal--then we'll back outof the town, abandon the train, and take to the open fields."
George wondered if, by doing this, they would not fall into the hands oftheir pursuers. But there was no chance for argument.
The speed of "The General" was now slackened, so that the engineapproached the station at a rate of not more than fifteen miles an hour.Andrews saw nothing unusual on the platform; no soldiers; no preparationsfor arrest.
"Go ahead," he said, "and stop at the platform. The coast's clear sofar."
It was necessary that a stop should be made at Dalton for the reason thatthere were switches at this point, owing to the junction o
f the Clevelandline, and it would be impossible to run by the station without risking abad accident. It was necessary, furthermore, that this stop should be asbrief as possible, for the dilapidated looks of the broken baggage car andthe general appearance of the party were such as to invite suspicion upontoo close a scrutiny. Then, worse still, the enemy might arrive at anymoment. Andrews was again equal to the occasion. As the forlorn train drewup at the station he assumed the air and bearing of a major-general, toldsome plausible story about being on his way with dispatches forBeauregard, and ordered that the switches should be immediately changed sothat he could continue on to Chattanooga. Once again did his confidentmanner hoodwink the railroad officials. The switch was changed, and "TheGeneral" was quickly steaming out of Dalton. The citizens on the platformlooked after the party as if they could not quite understand what thewhole thing meant.
"Shall we cut a wire?" asked George.
"What is the good?" returned Andrews. "The enemy's engine will reachDalton in a minute or two--perhaps they are there now--and they cantelegraph on to Chattanooga by way of the wires on the Cleveland line.It's a roundabout way, but it will answer their purpose just as well."
"Then we dare not keep on to Chattanooga?" asked George, in a tone of keenregret. He had fondly pictured a triumphant run through Chattanooga, andan ultimate meeting with the forces of Mitchell somewhere to the westward,accompanied by the applause of the troops and many kind words from theGeneral.
"Not now," answered the leader. "We may yet burn a bridge or two, and thentake to the woods. It would be folly to enter Chattanooga only to becaught."
At last Andrews saw that he must change his plans. He had hoped, byburning a bridge, to head off the pursuing engine before now; his failureto do this, and the complication caused by the telegraph line toCleveland, told him that he must come to a halt before reachingChattanooga. To run into that city would be to jump deliberately into thelion's mouth.
"Let us see if there's time to break a rail," suddenly said the leader.The train was stopped, within sight of a small camp of Confederate troops,and the men started to loosen one of the rails. But hardly had they beguntheir work when there came the hated whistling from the pursuing engine.The adventurers abandoned their attempt, leaped to their places in cab andcar, and "The General" again sped onward. There were no cross-tiesremaining; this form of obstruction could no longer be used. It was nowraining hard; all the fates seemed to be combining against the pluckylittle band of Northerners.
Andrews began at last to see that the situation was growing desperate.
"There's still one chance," he muttered. He knew that he would soon pass abridge, and he went on to elaborate in his mind an ingenious plan by whichthe structure might be burned without making delay necessary, or risking ameeting with the pursuers. He scrambled his way carefully back to thebaggage car.
"Boys," he said, "I want you to set fire to this car, and then all of youcrawl into the tender."
There was a bustle in the car at once, although no one asked a question.The men made a valiant effort to ignite what was left of the splinteredwalls and roof of the car. But it was hard work. The rain, combined withthe wind produced by the rapid motion of the train, made it impossible toset anything on fire even by a very plentiful use of matches.
"We'll have to get something better than matches," growled Watson. He hadjust been saved from pitching out upon the roadside by the quick effortsof one of his companions, who had seized him around the waist in the nickof time. Andrews went to the forward platform of the car.
"Can't you get us a piece of burning wood over here," he called toGeorge.
The lad took a fence rail from the tender, placed it in the furnace, untilone end was blazing, and then contrived to hand it to the leader from therear of the tender. Andrews seized it, and applied the firebrand toseveral places in the car. But it was no easy task to make aconflagration; it seemed as if the rail would merely smoulder.
"Stop the engine," he ordered. "The General" was brought to a halt, andthen, when the artificial wind had ceased, the rail flared up. Soon thetorn walls and roof of the car burst into flames.
"Into the tender, boys," cried Andrews. The men needed no second bidding.The fire was already burning fiercely enough, despite the rain, to maketheir surroundings anything but comfortable. They scrambled into thetender. The engineer put his hand to the lever, pulled the throttle, andthe party were again on the wing although at a slow and constantlylessening rate of speed. At last they scarcely moved.
"The General" was now passing over the bridge--a covered structure ofwood. Andrews uncoupled the blazing car, and climbed back into the tender.The engine again sped on, leaving the burning car in the middle of thebridge. The scheme of the leader was apparent; he hoped that the flameswould be communicated to the roof of the bridge, and so to the entirewood-work, including the railroad ties and lower beams.
"At last!" thought Andrews. He would have the satisfaction of destroyingone bridge at least--and he would put an impassable barrier between theenemy and himself. His joy was, however, only too short lived. TheConfederates boldly ran towards the bridge.
"They won't dare to tackle that car," said George, as "The General" keptmoving onward. Yet the pursuing engine, instead of putting on brakes,glided through the bridge, pushing the burning car in front of it. When itreached the other side of the stream the car was switched off on a siding,and the enemy prepared to sweep onwards. The bridge was saved; Andrews'plan had failed. The Northerners gave groans of disappointment as theyfled along in front.
Finally it was resolved to make a last stop, and to attempt to pull up arail. The enemy was now some distance behind, having been delayed by thetime necessarily consumed in switching off the car, so that there seemed areasonable chance of executing this piece of strategy. When the men hadagain alighted on firm ground several of them felt actually seasick fromthe jolting of the engine and tender. It was now that one of the partymade a novel proposition to Andrews. The plan seemed to have a good dealto recommend it, considering how desperate was the present situation.
"Let us run the engine on," he said, "until we are out of sight of theenemy, and are near some of the bushes which dot the track. Then we cantear up a rail, or obstruct the track in some way, and quickly hideourselves in the bushes. The engineer will stay in 'The General,' and, assoon as the enemy comes in sight, can continue up the road, just as if wewere all on board. When the Confederates reach the broken rail, andprepare to fix it, we can all rush out at them and fire our revolvers.They will be taken by surprise--we will have the advantage."
"That sounds logical enough," observed Andrews; "it's worth trying,if----"
Again the enemy's whistle sounded ominously near. There was no chance toargue about anything now. The men leaped to their places, and "TheGeneral" was quickly gotten under way.
Watson looked at Jenks, next to whom he was huddled in the tender.
"How long is this sort of thing to be kept up?" he asked. "I'd far ratherget out and fight the fellows than run along this way!"
Jenks brushed the rain from his grimy face but made no answer.
"This all comes from that fatal delay at Kingston," announced Macgreggor."We would be just an hour ahead if it hadn't been for those wretchedfreight trains."
The enemy's engine gave an exultant whistle. "Vic-to-ry! Vic-to-ry!" itseemed to shriek.
Chasing an Iron Horse Page 6
