"I didn't know," answered Tom. "They didn't tell me much--except that I was going. That was enough." "That's about as much as most of the men know," remarked Brown. "Knight and I were the only ones who talked with Andrews. We are the engineers." "The engineers?" asked Tom. "What sort of engineers?" He heard Brown chuckle. "Well, they _didn't_ tell you much, did they? Locomotive engineers, of course. We're going to steal a railroad train." "Steal a railroad train!" exclaimed Tom. "Yep! That's what we're going to do." Tom gave a low whistle. Brown continued: "We're going to take a train on the Georgia State Railroad. Knight and I are to run it, and the rest of you...." From down the road came a mumble of voices. Brown clutched Tom's arm and they listened. "That's them!" exclaimed Brown in a whisper. One man of the approaching group stepped off the road into the fork, while the others waited. "Brown," he called. "Right here, sir." Brown stepped forward, and Tom followed. "How many are with you?" asked the man. "Just one--Burns. The third hasn't come yet." "How are you, Burns? I'm Andrews." He groped for Tom's hand in the darkness, shook it. "I wonder where the other man is. Well, it makes no difference. We won't wait for him. Come on." They followed him, out to where the others were standing. "This way, men," said Andrews, starting up the road on the left. Brown and Tom fell in beside him. "The rest of you straggle out so that you can get off the road quickly if anyone comes." Then, to Brown and Tom: "Perhaps he's lost, or perhaps he's changed his mind. Three others weren't where I told them to be, but we'll get along just as well without them. I arranged it this way so that if any of you did decide at the last minute that you didn't want to go...." He did not finish the sentence. Presently he said: "I want no men who aren't anxious to be with me." Tom could not see Andrews' face, but he liked his calm, pleasant voice. Conversation stopped, except for Brown's remark, "It looks like rain," and Andrews' answering, "Hm-m-m." For several minutes they plodded along the road, hidden even from the intermittent light of the moon by the trees that grew beside the road. "Here we are," said Andrews presently. They stopped and waited for the others; then turned off the road into a small opening in the woods. Andrews went ahead of them, and called back, "Come over here." They found him with two men. There came a rumble of thunder, so remote that it seemed like an echo, but to the ears of Andrews' men it was a sharp reminder of the troubles that might lay ahead of them. "Hm-m-m! Perhaps you were right, Brown," said Andrews. Thunder sounded again, this time nearer. "Let's count heads," said Andrews. "Get in a semi-circle, just as close together as possible."