But the four men in the cab were strangely silent as the train started westward again. There was something mysterious and alarming about all this--something positively supernatural in the disappearance of fourteen thousand gallons of water within an hour. The engineer tried his injector nervously from time to time, but for half an hour or so it worked properly, and squirted the water into the boiler as required. Then, suddenly, came the spurt of steam which told that there was no more water to squirt. "Well," said the engineer, in an awed voice, "that beats me. Even with th' injector open all th' time, no engine could drink water that way--why, it 'd flood her an' flow out of her cupolo! Besides, her boiler ain't more 'n half-full!" Pinkey mechanically tried the cock again, and with the same result--the tank was nearly empty. Then, in a sort of trance, he turned to shovel in some more coal, but finding there was none lying loose within easy reach, took his rake, and climbed up the pile at the back of the tender, like a man walking in his sleep, and started to pull some coal down into the gangway. An instant later, his companions heard a shriek of utter horror, audible even above the rattle of the engine, and the fireman rolled in a limp heap down the pile of coal, his face white as death, his eyes fairly starting from his head. If any man ever looked as though he had seen a ghost, Pinkey Jones was that man, and his terror was communicated in some degree to his companions. "For God's sake!" cried the brakeman, at last, seizing Pinkey by the collar and pulling him to an upright position. "What's the matter?" Instead of answering, Pinkey, his teeth chattering, tried to jump off the engine. The fireman grabbed him and pulled him back by main force. "Come!" he said, shaking him fiercely. "Brace up! Be a man! What's the matter?" "Th--there's a snake up there," stuttered Pinkey. "Let me go!" "A snake!" "Big as my leg," added Pinkey. "Black, with a red mouth! Let me go!" The brakeman slammed him down on the seat and picked up the rake, while Allan armed himself with the bar of iron used for stirring up the fire. "What was he doing?" asked the brakeman, when these preparations had been made. "He--he had his head in the tank," said Pinkey. "When he heard me comin', he lifted it up an' squirted water all over me!" "Squirted water!" repeated Michaels, incredulously. "A snake? Oh, come!" "Well, look at me," said Pinkey. And indeed, they saw now that he was completely soaked. "Why, he must 'a' sent a stream like a fire-hose!" said the brakeman. "He did," agreed Pinkey. "It hit me so hard it knocked me backward down that pile o' coal," and he rubbed his head ruefully. The three men in the cab stared at each other in amazement. A snake that could knock a man down with a stream of water!