"I'm glad of that. I wanted to make sure of it."
"But take her yourself," urged Ned, guiding the House to the side of the road in case any motorists were following. "You haven't had the wheel when you had a chance to let out. Go ahead."
"All right," agreed Tom Swift.
He had not long been in the driver's seat, and was working up speed, when from behind came a long, shrill whistle. For a moment the young men thought it might be one of those signals connected to the exhaust pipe of some speeding motorist. But a look into the rear vision mirror showed a fast freight train approaching. Then, for the first time, Tom and Ned noticed that they were running parallel to railroad tracks and close to them.
On came the fast freight, and the engineer seemed either to be trying to attract the attention of the occupants of the peculiar car or else saluting them. Then Tom cried suddenly:
"I know what he wants!"
"What?" asked Ned.
"A race! And he's going to get it. Come on, steam baby!" yelled Tom, noting that he was now even with the locomotive. "We'll see what you can do against the House on Wheels!"
CHAPTER VIII
CUNNINGHAM ON THE WIRE