Proud, indeed, did Bob feel as his hand clasped the smooth handle of the lever. Never had he expected to run a real, snorting locomotive, dragging a long line of cars, and the realization that he was actually controlling the speed, set him a-tingle with delight.
Crowding in behind Bob, the engineer kept watch of the track, but not so closely that he could not observe and enjoy the boy's pleasure.
After several minutes, Bob turned and shouted:
"Can I pull on the throttle a little?"
"Sure. Open her to the next notch. We've got plenty of steam."
But Bob found it was not so easy to get the notch as it seemed. He kept gamely at it, however, and at last succeeded.
Till they reached the yard limit of Hastings, the engineer allowed him to hold the throttle, and when he at last took it and began to ease down the speed, Bob sighed wistfully.
As the big machine finally came to a stop with a grunt, Barney exclaimed:
"You ought to be an engineer, boy. You've got the nerve to drive hard. We did ten miles in twenty minutes—which is going some with this load."
Just then, however, the conductor came up.