"All right, then; we'll take up the Scout's pace again till we reach the station."
It was a few seconds past 10:49 when the boys crossed the tracks; it still lacked a little of 10:50 when Bunny found the young man in charge of the station puttering over a trunk in the baggage room.
"Oh, you're the one who telephoned about that train?" he said, smiling pleasantly. "Well, she left ahead of time; there's no doubt about that. I don't know why she did any more than you do. She came puffing in, and Mr. Gillen—he's the station master here—hopped on board to speak to the conductor, and the train carried him off, too. Never left before like that, and I don't understand it. Nobody told me a word about it."
"Where's the next stop?"
"Wells Junction. That's just three miles away. They wait there till 11:05 to make connections with the B. & X."
"Three miles." Bunny did a little mental arithmetic. "Why, we could catch it there, then, if we just had some way of getting there."
The young man became interested. "Did you say there were nine of you? Well, here's a hand car that I was going to send up to the Junction sometime this afternoon. It would be perfectly safe, because there aren't any freights coming, and there isn't another passenger due till midnight. Let's see. You want to go to Deerfield, where you take the 'bus for Belden. Now, you buy tickets for Deerfield, and I will let you take the hand car. If you miss the train for any reason, you can turn in your tickets and get your money back."
To Bunny, it seemed altogether too good to be true; but there was no time to waste rejoicing over the news.
"All right," commented Bi a little heavily, "but I never thought I should have to pay for my own ticket. Still, of course, there's no way out of it."