Then, from somewhere ahead, came screams and cries, and the crash of axes on wood.
[CHAPTER XV]
THE EXPRESS AHEAD
“Come on, fellows, tumble out!”
Thus Jerry called to his two chums, but they needed no urging. The curtains of their berths were violently shaken as the lads drew on their clothes, and leaped out into the aisle.
“Has anything happened?” asked the professor, hardly awake, even after his first question.
“Not to us,” answered Jerry. “Our luck seems to have turned. But there must be a lot of people badly hurt on the Limited. Come on, we’ll do all we can to help.”
Without stopping to dress fully, the three boys hurried out of the car. The professor and some of the other men passengers followed, the women remaining in frightened and tearful groups, discussing what had happened.
Jerry saw a brakeman hurrying from the sleeping car with several tools under his arm—an axe, a saw and a crowbar.