Professor Punjab seemed to go into a deep thought trance. Then he gave a sudden start. "The train is going to stop quickly because there is an obstruction on the track!" he exclaimed. An instant later, to the surprise of the boys, no less than Mr. Post, there was a quick application of the air brakes, so much so that the passengers were nearly thrown from their seats. Then with a grinding and shrieking the train came to a stop. "What did I tell you?" inquired Professor Punjab. "Well I'll be horn-swoggled!" exclaimed Mr. Post. "What's the matter?" asked several travelers. The boys had hurried to the front of the car. They were met by a brakeman. "Don't be alarmed," he said. "There is no danger." "What was the trouble?" asked Jack. "There was some obstruction on the track, a couple of ties, I believe, that fell from a passing flat car," the brakeman explained. "The engineer saw it and stopped just in time." Professor Punjab pulled a book from his pocket and began to read, as if prophesying that trains would suddenly stop was the most natural thing in the world. CHAPTER XIV PROFESSOR PUNJAB'S TRICK "Well, I call that goin' some," spoke Mr. Post. "If you can do that just sitting still I wonder what you can do when you begin moving" "A mere trifle," said Professor Punjab. "I will be pleased to give you a further evidence of my powers later on. But now I am fatigued. I have studied hard to-day on the great mystery of the future life, and I find I must take a little nourishment,--very little. A bit of cracker and a glass of water," and with that he went forward to the dining car. "Yes, I'd just like to see him get along with a cracker and a glass of water," murmured Jack. "I'll bet corned beef and cabbage is more in his line." "But how do you suppose he knew the train was going to stop?" asked Ned speaking aloud. "That looks queer." "He's a wonder, that's what he is," said Mr. Post. "I want to see some more of him," and he got up to go back to the smoking compartment, leaving the three boys alone in the forward part of the car. "Maybe he just made a guess at it," put in John Smith. "I've seen some of our Indian medicine men pretend to prophesy and it turned out they only made good guesses." "Perhaps he did." Nat admitted. Jack had moved over to the seat vacated by Professor Punjab. He pressed his face close to the window and looked ahead. As he did so he uttered an exclamation. "Come here, John and Nat!" he said in a low tone. "This will explain how it was done." The two boys took turns looking from the window. "See it?" asked Jack. "Sure!" they chorused. "We were just rounding that curve," Jack went on. "He happened to look from the window and he saw the ties on the track. Any one could as the electric light from that freight station is right over them. He knew the engineer would stop in a hurry, and, sure enough, he did. It's easy when you know how, isn't it?"