“No; it’s the five-forty on the other road,” answered Frank, with a
queer thrill all through him at the thought of what might happen if
it was not. Both looked straight ahead as the last tree glided by,
and the long track lay before them, with the freight train slowly
coming down. For an instant, the boys stood as if paralyzed.
“Jump!” said Gus, looking at the steep bank on one side and the
river on the other, undecided which to try.
“Sit still!” commanded Frank, collecting his wits, as he gave a
warning whistle to retard the on-coming train, while he reversed
the engine and went back faster than he came.
A crowd of angry men was waiting for them, and Bill stood at the
open switch in a towering passion as No. 11 returned to her place
unharmed, but bearing two pale and frightened boys, who stepped
slowly and silently down, without a word to say for themselves,
while the freight train rumbled by on the main track.
Frank and Gus never had a very clear idea as to what occurred
during the next few minutes, but vaguely remembered being well
shaken, sworn at, questioned, threatened with direful penalties,
and finally ordered off the premises forever by the wrathful
depot-master. Joe was nowhere to be seen, and as the two culprits
walked away, trying to go steadily, while their heads spun round,
and all the strength seemed to have departed from their legs, Frank
said, in an exhausted tone,
“Come down to the boat-house and rest a minute.”
Both were glad to get out of sight, and dropped upon the steps red,
rumpled, and breathless, after the late exciting scene. Gus
generously forebore to speak, though he felt that he was the least
to blame; and Frank, after eating a bit of snow to moisten his dry
lips, said, handsomely,
“Now, don’t you worry, old man. I’ll pay the damages, for it was
my fault. Joe will dodge, but I won’t, so make your mind easy.
“We sha’n’t hear the last of this in a hurry,” responded Gus,
relieved, yet anxious, as he thought of the reprimand his father
would give him.
“I hope mother won’t hear of it till I tell her quietly myself. She
will be so frightened, and think I’m surely smashed up, if she is
told in a hurry”; and Frank gave a shiver, as all the danger he had
run came over him suddenly.
“I thought we were done for when we saw that train. Guess we
should have been if you had not had your wits about you. I always
said you were a cool one”; and Gus patted Frank’s back with a look
of great admiration, for, now that it was all over, he considered it a
very remarkable performance.
“Which do you suppose it will be, fine or imprisonment?” asked
Frank, after sitting in a despondent attitude for a moment.
“Shouldn’t wonder if it was both. Running off with an engine is no
joke, you know.”
‘What did possess me to be such a fool?” groaned Frank, repenting,
all too late, of yielding to the temptation which assailed him.
“Bear up, old fellow, I’ll stand by you; and if the worst comes, I’ll
call as often as the rules of the prison allow,” said Gus,
consolingly, as he gave his afflicted friend an arm, and they
walked away, both feeling that they were marked men from that
day forth.
Meantime, Joe, as soon as he recovered from the shock of seeing
the boys actually go off, ran away, as fast as his legs could carry
him, to prepare Mrs. Minot for the ioss of her son; for the idea of
their coming safely back never occurred to him, his knowledge of
engines being limited. A loud ring at the bell brought Mrs. Pecq,
who was guarding the house, while Mrs. Minot entertained a
parlor full of company.
“Frank’s run off with No. 11, and he’ll be killed sure. Thought I’d
come up and tell you,” stammered Joe, all out of breath and
looking wild.
He got no further, for Mrs. Pecq clapped one hand over his mouth,
caught him by the collar with the other, and hustled him into the