“I have fixed it.”
“How?” asked Hicks, eagerly.
For answer Frank set him free.
“I ask no promises of you,” he said; “but Evans and the train men know what has happened. If you try to knock me with the general manager, they will have something to say.”
“Oh, I won’t try any knocking. I promise that. You are usin’ me better than I deserve, and I appreciate it. I won’t fergit it—I won’t fergit it!”
CHAPTER XXXI.
AN UNGRATEFUL MAN.
So old Joe took the train through, after all, and he ran the engine right. It made a remarkable difference in Frank’s work, as Merry quickly found out. It was not necessary to bend his back and shovel coal all the time.
The old engineer looked like a wreck when the end of the run was reached, but he had stuck to his post. Scarcely a word had passed between him and Frank after he took the engine the second time. Merry watched him closely, but Hicks never let his eyes meet Frank’s. He paid as little attention to his companion in the cab as possible.
When they pulled back to the roundhouse that night an explanation of the trouble was asked for by the “old man,” who summoned them to his office.