“Well, at any rate, none of us are killed,” said Professor Snodgrass, as he came down the aisle, fully dressed, for he had arisen early to continue his reading about horned toads. “What is the matter, boys?”
“We’re just going to find out,” said Jerry, as he went down the steps and walked along the track toward the engine, about which a crowd of passengers and train men were gathered.
“What’s the trouble?” asked Bob of a brakeman who was running toward the rear end of the train with a red flag.
“I don’t know exactly. Something wrong with the engine; I guess. I heard the conductor say it was a bad break.”
“Come on,” said Jerry to his chums. “There doesn’t seem to be anybody hurt, but it looks as if we were in for a long wait,” and he pointed to several cars that were off the track, the wheels resting on the wooden ties.
CHAPTER VIII.
HEMMED IN
The boys found a group of worried trainmen gathered about the engine, and it needed but a glance to show what the trouble was. The piston rod had broken while the ponderous engine was going at full speed, and the driving rods, which had broken off from where they were fastened to the wheels, had been driven deep into the ground. This had served to fairly lift the engine from the rails, and, in its mad journey it had pulled several cars with it.
The piston rod, threshing about with nothing to hold it, had broken several parts of the engine, and some pieces of the driving rods had been hurled up into the cab, narrowly missing the engineer.
“It sure is a bad break,” said the fireman as he got down from the cab, after opening the door of the fire box, so that the engine would cool down. “Never saw a worse.”
“Me either,” fairly growled the conductor.