There were all kinds of holes and heaps around him, but too open and public to his way of thinking. Exploring, he came to the board barrier again, climbed over it, and more critically than before scanned the fifty-foot descent, and what lay at the bottom.
"Why!" said Bart, in some astonishment, "there's a railroad track—"
He leaned over, and scrutinizingly ran his eye along the dull brown stretch of raised rails.
"And a hand car!" shouted the young express agent joyfully.
CHAPTER XXI
A LIMB OF THE LAW
The single track which Bart had discovered lined the bottom of the hill, followed it for a distance, and then running across the valley disappeared in among other hills and the timber.
It was a rickety concern, was unballasted, and looked as if, loosely thrown together, it had never filled its original mission and had been practically abandoned.
"I don't know of any branch of the B. & M. hereabouts," ruminated the young express agent—"certainly none corresponding to this is on the map. It is not in regular use, but that hand car looks as if it was doing service right along."