"I don't know exactly. Something wrong with the engine; I guess. I
heard the conductor say it was a bad break."
"Come on," said Jerry to his chums. "There doesn't seem to be anybody
hurt, but it looks as if we were in for a long wait," and he pointed
to several cars that were off the track, the wheels resting on the
wooden ties.
CHAPTER VIII
HEMMED IN
THE boys found a group of worried trainmen gathered about the engine,
and it needed but a glance to show what the trouble was. The piston
rod had broken while the ponderous engine was going at full speed, and
the driving rods, which had broken off from where they were fastened
to the wheels, had been driven deep into the ground. This had served
to fairly lift the engine from the rails, and, in its mad journey it
had pulled several cars with it.
The piston rod, threshing about with nothing to hold it, had broken
several parts of the engine, and some pieces of the driving rods had
been hurled up into the cab, narrowly missing the engineer.
"It sure is a bad break," said the fireman as he got down from the
cab, after opening the door of the fire box, so that the engine would
cool down. "Never saw a worse."
"Me either," fairly growled the conductor.
"Why couldn't it have held off a couple of hours more and we'd been
near some place where we could telegraph for help."
"You don't mean to say we are away out on the prairies not near a
telegraph station, do you?" asked an excited man.
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