CHAPTER XIX
ON THE HANDCAR
"Waterloo!" exclaimed Nap.
"There's a chance yet," Bunny urged. "Maybe she's just moving up to theswitch to get on another track."
"A fat chance!" said the cynical Specs. "That other track runs to NewYork or San Francisco or somewhere. No, siree, that train isn't comingback to Harrison City again to-day."
As the boys watched the fading black smoke, it grew more and moreevident that Specs was right. The train which was to have been theirsalvation had gone without them.
Bunny shook his head stubbornly. "I don't know how we are going to getthere, but I mean to keep on trying. Nobody is licked till he gives up,and we are a long way from giving up. Does anybody want to quit?"
The "no" that answered was not full-throated, but it satisfied thepatrol leader.
"All right, then; we'll take up the Scout's pace again till we reachthe station."
It was a few seconds past 10:49 when the boys crossed the tracks; itstill lacked a little of 10:50 when Bunny found the young man in chargeof the station puttering over a trunk in the baggage room.
"Oh, you're the one who telephoned about that train?" he said, smilingpleasantly. "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, andMr. Gillen--he's the station master here--hopped on board to speak tothe conductor, and the train carried him off, too. Never left beforelike 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 till11:05 to make connections with the B. & X."
"Three miles." Bunny did a little mental arithmetic. "Why, we couldcatch 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 Junctionsometime this afternoon. It would be perfectly safe, because therearen't any freights coming, and there isn't another passenger due tillmidnight. 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 youtake the hand car. If you miss the train for any reason, you can turnin your tickets and get your money back."
To Bunny, it seemed altogether too good to be true; but there was notime to waste rejoicing over the news.
"All right," commented Bi a little heavily, "but I never thought Ishould have to pay for my own ticket. Still, of course, there's no wayout of it."
It required the greater portion of the Scouts' ready cash to pay forthe thirty-eight-mile trip to Deerfield. Roundy had disappeared, so histicket had to be purchased out of the common fund; but they had barelyworked the hand car to the main track before he hove in sight, his armsfull of sandwiches and boxes of crackers.
"Getting along toward dinner time," he explained, "and nobody knowswhen we'll get anything to eat, if we don't stock up when we have thechance."
The young man at the station gave them a parting word of advice. "Youmay think the hand car works hard at first, but after you get going itwill pretty nearly run itself. Don't waste any time, but roll 'er alongas fast as you can. Turn it over to the agent at the Junction and tellhim that Jensen sent you. By-by!"
The young man was right. The hand car did run loggily at first; butwith four hardy Scouts on each handlebar, it slowly gained headway.
"It's not exactly an automobile," said Specs, between strokes, "but itgoes."
"You can't puncture the tires, either," added Jump.
"Somebody punctured this right forward one," suggested S. S., as byjolt and jar the wheel proved that it was no longer as round as it hadbeen.
Nap had the solution. "Keep your eyes open, Mr. Sherlock HolmesBonfire, and when you see a 'Free Air' sign we'll stop."
For the first time since the fire, the Black Eagles were actuallygrowing cheerful. They seemed no longer chasing a will-o'-the-wisphope; at last, they were substantially on their way to victory. Thehandles fairly flew.
"I guess old Professor Leland will be glad to see us," chuckled Roundy.
"And I guess the Belden team won't like it so well," observed Specs.
"And that party they are going to give us after the game," Bi said,smacking his lips. "I wouldn't miss it for anything."
They spun along up a little grade, through a deep cut, and out upon ahigh trestle.
"If we were inside the car of a train," Bunny said, "we wouldn't noticea little thing like this." He looked down at a cottage nestling uponthe slope below. "I hope there's somebody there with a blanket to catchus if we go over the edge."
"Somebody on the path at this side," called Bonfire. "It's a railroadman, too."
"How do you know? Is he wearing overalls and carrying an oil can?"
Above the clatter-clatter of the hand car, a voiceshouted from below. _Page 207._]
"No, he has on a blue uniform. Might be a conductor; or he may workaround a station, or--"
Raspingly and distinctly above the clatter-clatter of the hand car, avoice shouted from below.
"Stop!"
"He's calling to us."
"Let him call. Maybe he's just making a speech to the trestle." ThusSpecs.
"Stop that hand car!"
They had already spanned the tiny bridge and were upon the solid trackbeyond. Just ahead, the rails curved around a steep bank.
"Let him yell," said Bi defiantly. "He hasn't any way of stopping us,has he? Probably thinks we are stealing this old pushcart. Well, wearen't."
"What's he got to do with it, anyhow?" spluttered Nap, plunging harderthan ever on the handle. "We had permission to do this, and we're goingto do it, Mr. Blue Uniform or not."
It was Bunny who settled the matter. Throwing his weight on the bar asit came up, and holding it back as it swung down, he issued his ordersas patrol leader. "Everybody hold fast. We're going to stop and findout what he wants."
There was a grunt of indignant protest from Specs, but the othersobeyed first and talked afterwards.
"Look here, Bunny," Bi objected, as the car slowed down, "you arerunning this party and I'm not; so what you say goes. But I don't seeany use of stopping. We aren't doing anything wrong. We've been givenpermission to operate the car. He hasn't any right to tell us we can't,and if he tells us we can--why, we know that already. There he comesnow up over the bank. I say, start up again and explain when we get toWells Junction."
Specs chimed in. "We're not going anywhere on our own account; we'regoing to play baseball for the school. All we're doing by stopping nowis asking for trouble."
The wheels ground to a dead center.
Bunny's lips were set. "I know how you feel. I feel that way myself.But I know we can't do that sort of thing. This man isn't a sectionhand: he's wearing a uniform; he has a cap; it looks as if he had someright to tell us to stop. I'll put it up to him just as strong as Ican, and he may let us go on. If he won't--"
The man was within fifty yards of them, running at a clumsy gait up thetrack. Though puffing and out of wind, he did his best to shout.
"Take--that--hand car--off the--track!"
"Like fun we will!" muttered Specs.
The man came on, repeating his command. "Take it off--yank itoff--right away!"
Bunny stiffened. "I don't think you understand--"
"You young rascals stole this car. Yes, you did. You can't tell me anydifferent." He was with them now; he placed protecting hands on theproperty of the R. A. & S. Railroad. "If you don't yank it off thetrack, right on the dot, I'll--"
Bunny's eyes narrowed. His hands, quite without any effort on his part,became fists. But he kept his voice level, though it had what Specscalled later "a sort of grindstone sound."
"We are Boy Scouts," explained Bunny, "and we have been givenpermission to use the car. We stopped because we thought you had theright to tell us to stop; not because we are afraid of you. We aregoing to Wells Junction, and if you have nothing bett
er to do than callus names, Mister, we'll keep right on going there."
When they talked it over afterward, everybody but Specs agreed thatthe man changed his style of remarks, not because he was afraid, butbecause he had begun to understand. However this might be, his nextspeech was much milder.
"Permission or not, you will have to yank this car off the track; wecan talk about it later."
"But why?"
"Why! Because, if you don't, you're going to be smashed into a millionpieces. There is a big special coming through any minute. It's on itsway. Now, get that hand car off where it won't be responsible for anaccident."
Though not trained section hands, the Black Eagles came near making arecord in tipping, levering and hoisting the unwieldy hand car to asafe place along the right of way. Once it was safely there, the manin uniform seated himself on it and wiped his forehead.
"I haven't had such a turn since the bad wreck in '96. Why, when I sawyou boys going lickety-split along the track, I was ready to curl upand quit. How did you happen to have the car, anyhow?"
As rapidly as possible, Bunny told him the story of the morning'sadventures, including the acquisition of the hand car.
"So Jensen said that, did he? Well, he has been working there about aweek, and what he doesn't know about railroading would fill a library.Letting a lot of boys come up the track in a hand car! I never heard ofsuch a thing."
"Is your name Gillen?" asked Bonfire suddenly.
"My name's Gillen. I am the station master at Harrison City. I amresponsible for whatever happens around here. There was somethingthe matter with the wires this morning, and the last half-hour everymessage we received was chopped up like so much sausage. We did notget a word about the special. I hopped on the 11:50--it rolled in at11:48--to find out what they knew, and they carried me right along.They had orders to run right through to Wells Junction unless they hadpassengers waiting. They dropped me here at the trestle, and I had justtelephoned Jensen about it when I heard you coming. Since I stoppedthat hand car, I feel about ten years younger."
The minutes were ticking away, but there was nothing to be done. Withthe news of the special on its way, it was plain that any thought ofgoing ahead must be put aside until they could count on a clear track.Already a mile had been covered, but the remaining distance was toogreat to walk in the limited time left them. No, there was nothing todo but wait.
Mr. Gillen went to the house below, to finish his talk over thetelephone with Jensen, while the boys fumed to no purpose. It was aftereleven o'clock when he returned, and it was almost five minutes laterwhen the special, with its private car, rumbled by with a swish of dustand cinders.
"I am sorry, boys," said the station master, "but it is against therules of the road to allow any outsider to take chances like those youwere taking. If the special had come nine minutes ago, I should havegone on with you myself; but it's too late now even for that."
Bunny looked at his watch. At that very moment, the train whichthey had tried so desperately to catch must be pulling out of WellsJunction. They had lost their last chance of continuing their trip toBelden in one of its coaches.