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up North, no doubt, where such things are procurable; and had brought back this engine and the cars. How a man would set about buying such things, where they came from, who sold them, moved Abner with the same sense of mystery as did the glitter of the stars.

Railroad Jones himself, with his square yellow face, black mane, and birthmark, reached down and helped the boys up in his flat. "Well, Abner," he beamed down on his teamster, "we shore built her, my boy! Tug, we got her to goin' at last! When I seen it was you fellows, I says, 'Boys, we got to go back an' git them boys; they holp build her and they're intitled to a ride same as us.'" As the engine resumed its forward movement, he cried out,

"Watch her puff! Ain't she a dandy!"

As a matter of fact, Abner had been disappointed in the engine. He had expected a new glittering locomotive to run on the long westward curve of yellow ties and black rails, but this one was rusty, old, evidently second-hand. But this welcome by Railroad Jones, this backing the train to pick him up, filled him with the greatest enthusiasm. It undid all the preachments Shallburger had ever made or would ever make. The notion of striking against a genuine fellow like Railroad Jones was ridiculous.

The flat cars rattled and shook under their feet. The men held to one another to keep from falling down.

"Yonder's an auto!" shouted Jones gloriously, pointing at a motor car along a parallel road, "bet ever' man in the crowd a dollar we pass her!"

A number of voices took him.

"It's a bet! Whoop her up, boys! Monty, tell Henry to give her more coal; git this shebang under way!"

The man called Monty climbed the tender and began bawling at the engineer and pointing toward the motor to transfer the idea of a race. In a few minutes black smoke boiled out of the stack. The puffing increased in speed and intensity. A rising wind beat the men's faces. The rattle of the flats changed to a roar.