The engineer thrust his head out of the cab window and gazed upward. His attention had been attracted by the roaring of the motor overhead.
He broke into a yell and waved his hand as he saw the flying aeroplane dashing along above him. The next instant his hand sought the whistle cord.
“Toot! toot! toot!”
The occupants of the aeroplane waved their hands. To their chagrin, however, they saw that, overloaded as the aeroplane was, the train was gaining on them in leaps and bounds. Its windows were black with heads now as passengers, regardless of the danger of encountering some trackside obstacle, leaned out and gazed up at the Golden Butterfly roaring along like some great Thunder Lizard of the dark ages.
“Don’t they stop anywhere between here and the junction?” gasped Jimsy.
Roy shook his head.
“It’s a through train from Montauk,” he said; “they make all the speed they can.”
“Two minutes,” cried Jess, suddenly; “we won’t do it.”
But Peggy had suddenly swung off the tracks and was cutting across country. She had seen that the track took a long curve just before it entered the junction. By taking a direct “crow flight” across country she might beat it after all.
And she did. As the train came thundering into the station and stopped with a mighty screaming of brakes and hiss of escaping steam, the aeroplane came to earth in the flat park-like space in front of the depot.