"How'd you like to ride on the engine till the next stop?"
"My, but it would be fun!" replied Bob, his eyes sparkling with delight.
"Then come on! I'll take you up and fix it with Barney, the engineer."
As the train stopped, with a loud creaking of brakes and groaning of wheels, Bob jumped from the caboose and accompanied the burly conductor to the head of the train.
"Hey, Barney!" he hailed the engineer.
The man thus addressed poked a coal-begrimed face from the window of his cab, asking:
"What is it—wait orders?"
"Not this time. I've got a boy here—Bob Chester—who wants to ride with you to the next station."
For a moment the engineer scowled, and Bob feared he would refuse. But quickly the grimy face broke into a smile, as Barney asked:
"Is that the kid with a pass Jenkins left?"