“Thank goodness!” grunted the fussy man.
There was silence throughout the sleeping car. The train swung on through the night, making occasional stops. Then came a long run.
Suddenly there was a grinding of brakes. The train was halted so suddenly that many of the passengers slipped down to the ends of their berths, all crumpled up. There was a series of shrill whistles.
“What’s the matter?” cried the fussy man. “Are you boys cutting up again? Can’t you let a man sleep in peace? I’ve got to get up early!”
“Hello! Hello!” cried the professor. “What is it?”
“I don’t know,” answered Jerry. “It isn’t us, anyhow,” he added, for the benefit of the fussy man.
Just then a brakeman came hurrying through the car.
“What’s up?” asked Jerry, poking his head through the curtains of his berth.
“Wreck!” was the brief reply. “The Denver Limited, right ahead of us, has jumped the track. Our engineer stopped just in time, or we’d have been into her.”
“The Limited wrecked!” gasped Jerry. “It’s a good thing, after all, that we missed it!”