Frantically, he sought out the traffic manager and ordered a special.
“I must be in New York by one o’clock,” he cried. “I must, I tell you. Never mind the price. Get me a special.”
The official hummed and hawed. “It would take a little time to make it up, to get a car. It would——”
“Don’t wait for a car,” interrupted Joe, in frenzy. “I’ll ride on the locomotive.”
In ten minutes the train despatcher had arranged for the right of way, and one of the road’s fastest locomotives puffed up. Joe sprang into the cab, the engineer flung the throttle open and they were off.
“Can you make it?” questioned our hero, anxiously.
“We’ll make it or bust,” was the grim response of the engineer.
He was one of the oldest and most reliable men on the road and as Joe looked at him he felt his confidence rising.
Yet a good many miles lay between our hero and New York City.
And a hundred things might happen to delay the special.