Jack North felt that it was all over with him, but true to the instinct of his nature, he stood bravely at his post.
Chapter X
A Narrow Escape
With the wild cry of Fret Offut and the exultant yells of the bush-raiders ringing in his ears above the thunder of the rushing train, Jack North heard the ominous crash, of the descending bowlder, and saw with a dazed look its swift approach.
The locomotive, throbbing and panting like a human being in a race for life, was fairly flying along the winding track.
It all lasted but a moment, the downward rush of the deadly body, the cries of exultation and despair, the lightning-like passing of the fatal spot by the engine, and the ordeal was over as quickly as it had come!
The descent of the ponderous missile was swift and sure until a projection on the side of the cliff was reached, when with a terrific concussion the bowlder glanced. It suddenly shot outward like a cannon ball, and was carried fairly over the engine into the gulch below.
Jack witnessed this miraculous movement with breathless eagerness bordering upon terror.
The huge rock passed so near that it scraped the top of the caboose, and the current of air it raised swept the boy engineer’s cap from his head.
The train had got its length beyond the place before Jack could realize that he had escaped.