"We'll send it
back on them." Knight threw the lever over. "They'll stop in Ringgold for a
minute to shunt that car."
All the men, except the engine crew, were off.
"You next, Tom," ordered Andrews. "Then Brown and Knight. I'll stay by the
engine and send her back. Here, Tom, take your coat." In that last moment,
Andrews was as calm as if he had reached the end of some commonplace,
humdrum journey.
Tom took his coat and put it on. He paused for a second on the step of the
_General_, then leaped. His feet struck the ground and he pitched forward.
He arose, dazed and shaken, and stepped into the woods which lined the
track.
The _General_ disappeared up the track; a minute later the _Texas_ passed
him, and he caught a glimpse of the two men who had pursued them from Big
Shanty. They were sitting on the edge of the tender, leaning forward
eagerly.
"If we'd only stopped to fight them!" thought Tom. But it was too late for
that now. The great railroad race was over, and ahead of him lay miles of
enemy country. He wondered where the other men were, if he would meet them.
He was aroused from his thoughts by the noise of a locomotive coming from
the north. The _Texas_ came rolling back, with the two men on the tender
waving to the engineer; the _General_ followed, steaming down the track
with its cab deserted.
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