"FOILED"
Pretty soon they went back to the train and then, after about ten
minutes, the engine began puffing and coming toward us ever so slow. It
seemed as if it hardly moved.
"I think we're going to get a good bunk in the nose," Wig said.
"Good night," I told him; "I hope it doesn't pick up speed."
"I'd rather see it pick up anything than that," Connie said.
"Suppose it had hit us at full speed," Pee-wee said.
"It would have been a home run all right," I told him.
Even with that locomotive just creeping along toward us, it scared me.
It seemed as if it couldn't touch our car without banging it into
splinters. But that engineer knew what he was doing all right. The train
came along so slowly you could hardly tell it was moving, and sometimes
it stopped and started again. Pee-wee said it was going scout pace. But
it was more like a snail's pace, I guess.
Pretty soon it stopped just about ten feet from us and the headlight
brightened up the whole car. I could feel the bridge tremble a little,
sort of keeping time with that great big locomotive, as it stood there
puffing and just kind of throbbing. And I thought how all that engineer
would have to do was pull a handle and--_g--o--o--d_ night! He was
sitting, looking out of the window, sort of calm and easy, smoking a
pipe. Connie called up to him and said, "Hey, Mister, have a heart and
don't start anything." The engine just went, "_pff_, _pff_, _pff_," very
slow. We could even feel the heat of it.
Somebody called out for us to get inside the car and stay there. A man
went through our car with a red lantern and kept swinging it on the
other platform. I could see men swinging red lights way in the back of
the train, too. Some people on the train tried to get out, but the
railroad men made them get on again. I could hear a lady crying that
there was going to be a bad collision. Cracky, I never heard of a good
one, did you?
The men between the front of the engine and our car had a long iron bar,
sort of, and they had one end of it fixed in a sort of coupling just
above the cow-catcher. It was pretty hard keeping us off the platform,
so we saw everything they did. The other end of that bar they held up so
it stuck out like a shaft, and then the engine moved about an inch, then
stopped, then moved about another inch, then stopped. Gee whiz, I was
glad I wasn't down there with those men. _Yum_, _yum_, I like
sandwiches, but I don't like being the middle part of one. Then all of a
sudden, _bunk_.
The men climbed up on our car and in a minute, chu chu, along we went
ever so slow, the engine pushing us.
When we were off the bridge, the train stopped and the men on the other
end of our car went away along the tracks, swinging their lanterns. Gee,
it's all right to say a bridge is strong, and I guess that one was, all
right, but me for the good solid earth. It feels good underneath you.
Pretty soon the conductor and a lot of passengers came along to take a
look at us. What did _we_ care? Everybody said we were _wonders_ to
think about using the movie apparatus and they were laughing. I guess it
was at the word _pots_, hey? One man said we were prenominal,[B] or
something or other like that--I should worry.
Pretty soon we noticed a little crowd of people outside the second car,
so we went up that way to see what was the matter. A couple of men were
just coming down off the platform and each of them was holding a man by
the collar. The men they were holding had on scout hats. I took one look
and _g--o--o--d_ night! Those two fellows were the automobile thieves.
"_What--do--you--know--about--that?_" Connie whispered to me.
"And the train people never knew they were up there until we told them,"
Westy said.
I guess the two men were detectives. Anyway, just as they stepped off,
they let go the one man and one of them said, "Now you two hoboes beat
it, and the next time either of you is caught riding on this road,
you'll do time for it There's the road----"
_Jiminetty!_ I didn't wait for him to say any more. I just went right up
to that detective and I said, "Mister, those men are worse than tramps;
they're not tramps at all; they're thieves; they stole an automobile;
hurry up, you'd better catch him."
Oh, boy, didn't he grab hold of that fellow again! The fellow must have
seen some of us, because he was just starting to run when, zippo, that
detective had him by the collar again. The other one hadn't been let go
even, so he was safe.
By that time passengers from the train were crowding around and Pee-wee
was right in the center, shouting, same as he always does.
"They're--they're desperate--culprits----" he said; "we _foiled_ them
once before--we did----"
All the passengers were laughing. Even the conductor and the detectives
were laughing. I was laughing so hard, I couldn't speak.
He just shouted on, "You can say what you want about robbers and bandits
and--and all things like that being bad--in the movies--but anyway, I
don't care how many censors there are--you've got to admit that the
movies are all right--they can--what d'ye call it--they can reveal
identities, they can----"
Then Westy spoke up. He said, "This is our little mascot; he's
harmless." Then he told all about how our car was stalled on the road
and how the thieves got away. Westy always has his wits about him when
he talks, that's one thing.
One of the detectives said, "Can you boys positively identify this
pair?"
"Haven't they got our hats?" I said. "Sure we can identify them."
The two thieves looked at us as if to try to scare us, but what did _we_
care? They made a big fuss and said they were only tramps, but it didn't
do them any good, and nobody believed them. Because all those people
could see we knew what we were talking about, especially Westy, because
he's always so sober, like. And besides, they knew that we were the ones
who had first discovered them on top of the car, and I guess they saw
that we had some sense, because on account of our flashing the signal in
that way.
Anyway, you can bet those two fellows didn't get away. The men took them
into the baggage car and that was the last we saw of them, because after
the train started we had to stay in our own car, on account of the
engine being between us and the train. That was the only thing that kept
Pee-wee from giving a movie show.
But the fireman came in to see us, because he knew how to climb all over
the engine. He told us that those fellows had handcuffs on, and he got
all our names and addresses, because he said we'd have to come back and
be witnesses. But we never did, because the fellows confessed. Gee whiz,
I would have liked to go back again. Maybe it wouldn't have been so much
fun though, hey? I guess maybe I wouldn't have liked to. It's no fun
seeing people sent to jail. But anyway, one sure thing, they had no
right to steal a Pierce-Arrow. Even they wouldn't have had any right to
steal a Ford.
But anyway, who'd want to steal a Ford?
FOOTNOTE:
[Footnote B: Phenomenal is probably what the man said.]