"Hop aboard then!"
Once again the General started forward. Brown was at the throttle.
"More wood!" yelled Knight.
With Knight at the door of the fire-box, Tom yanked a half-dozen logs from the tender and slid them into the flames.
"Not too fast," Andrews called to Brown. "We're out of the worst of it now, and we don't want to get to Kingston too soon. Have to wait in the yards."
Brown nodded and slackened the speed. Now they could talk without yelling.
Presently Andrews ordered another stop and they drew up beside Moon
Station. He jumped out and came back with an iron bar. "Go ahead," he
yelled, then, pointing to the bar: "Good for pulling up track."
Tom added more fuel, and then stood at the door of the cab to see Allatoona as they went through. Brown opened the throttle gradually. The outskirts of the town whizzed past them; then the station. The crowd upon the station platform, expecting that this was the passenger train, stared uncomprehendingly as the train thundered in and out of town.
They rounded a bend which cut Allatoona off from view; then Andrews motioned to Brown to stop. Tom grabbed the brake and tightened it. The train stopped abruptly. Andrews pointed to the telegraph line.
"Tear it down, Scott. Let's pull up some rails here."
They ran to the rear of the train and pried one rail from the track. After ten minutes of feverish work, Andrews called: