Andrews, who was sitting on the right-hand seat of the cab, looked the picture of delight. "How was that for a starter?" he cried. "It's a good joke on Watson: he was so sure the sentries would stop us, and the soldiers didn't realize what we were doing until it was too late--for them! Hurrah!" It was all that the four men in the cab, and that George in the tender, could possibly do to keep their balance. The road-bed was very rough and full of curves; the country was mountainous, and the track itself was in wretched condition. Yet it was a magnificent sight as "The General," which was the name of the engine, careered along through the picturesque country like some faithful horse which tries, with all its superb powers of muscle, to take its master farther and farther away from a dangerous enemy. But suddenly the engine began to slacken its speed, and at last came to a complete standstill. Andrews, who had made his way into the tender, with considerable difficulty, in order to speak to George, turned a trifle pale. "What's the matter, Brown?" he shouted to the engineer. "The fire's nearly out, and there's no steam," was the rejoinder. At the same moment the men in the baggage car opened the door nearest the tender, and demanded to know what had happened. Andrews called back to them that there would only be a short delay. "It's only the fire that's out," he added; "and I'm thankful it is nothing worse. When I saw the train slowing up I was afraid some of the machinery had broken." No one understood better than he how a broken engine would have stranded all his men in the enemy's country, only a short distance away, comparatively, from Big Shanty and the Confederate camp. George worked with a will in assisting the men in the cab to convey wood from the tender into the engine furnace. In three minutes "The General" had resumed its way. "I wonder," thought George, as the train twisted around a curve and then sped across a narrow embankment, "if any attempt will be made to follow us." But the very idea of such pursuit seemed absurd. Andrews turned to Jenks with a smiling countenance. "The most difficult part of our journey is already over," he said triumphantly. "There's only one unscheduled train to meet, in addition to the two regulars. After I meet it, probably at Kingston, twenty-five miles or more farther on, we can put the old 'General' to full speed, and begin our work! We have got the upper hand at last." "Don't forget your telegraph wire is to be cut," said Jenks, as he jammed his shabby cap over his head, to prevent it from sailing off into space.