“Then it’s a race, is it?” asked Roberts, grasping the fire rake.
“Yes.”
“I’m with you to the finish,” announced the doughty fireman of No. 93.
[CHAPTER XV—CHASING A RUNAWAY]
“What’s the programme?” asked Roberts, after filling the fire box with coal.
“We must beat the speed of that runaway locomotive,” replied Ralph.
The wild engine was going at a terrific rate of progress. Ralph could only surmise where she had been started on her mad career. The motive, her intended destination, how long she would last out--all this he could only guess at.
A drift of cinders struck his face as he shot No. 93 across a switch and out upon the in track of the north branch. At the same time he bent his ear and listened critically to the chug-chug of the escape valves.
“Some one is aboard of that engine,” he told Roberts.
“Then it’s a chase instead of a race,” said the fireman. “All right. You boss and watch out ahead.”