Fuller glanced back indifferently at the wreck they had left behind them. "Keep her open wide!" he yelled, and the engineer nodded. Ahead lay the clear straight road down which the _General_ had swept just a few minutes before. There were no obstructions, and no breaks as far as Fuller and Murphy could see. They had climbed to the edge of the tender and were sitting, clutching the sides, studying the tracks ahead of them. "Stop at Calhoun!" called Fuller, and the order was passed back to the engineer. As the station swung into view, the _Texas_ came to a halt, with her brakes screaming. Fuller jumped off. "That train--stolen!" he said to the station agent. "Out of here five minutes ago." "Get aboard!" Fuller dragged the protesting station agent to the engine. When the _Texas_ had started again, he explained: "The lines are down. I want you to jump off at Dalton, if we haven't caught them before then, and send through this message. If we press them fast enough they won't have time to cut the lines." Fuller took a pencil and paper and wrote the message: "To Gen. Leadbetter, "Commander at Chattanooga: "My train captured this A.M. at Big Shanty, evidently by Federal soldiers in disguise. They are making for Chattanooga, possibly with the idea of burning the railroad bridges in their rear. If I do not capture them in the meantime, see that they do not pass Chattanooga. "WILLIAM A. FULLER." He handed the message to the station agent. Murphy, on the tender, suddenly raised his arms and yelled. The engineer of the _Texas_ closed the throttle, and reversed the engine. Fuller jumped to the brake; and the fireman, thinking that he had a train crew to man the brakes, swung on the whistle cord to give warning. It was this blast which fell on the ears of Andrews' men as they were tearing up the rail, a mile and a half farther north. The _Texas_, trembling under the power of the reversed pressure against her piston, seemed to buck upon the tracks. She stopped as though she had come to the end of an anchor chain. "Ties on the track," shouted Murphy, jumping from the tender. The others followed him and they tossed the ties to the side. Then they scrambled back aboard the locomotive. "You men stand by the brake," ordered Fuller. "Murphy and I will be on the tender. When we raise our arms--stop!" Two minutes later, Fuller and Murphy, straining to see obstructions on the track, caught a glimpse of the gap where a rail had been torn loose. It was only a glimpse, for the engine was almost upon it, swinging around the curve. They yelled and raised their arms, but it was too late. Even before the engineer could close the throttle the _Texas_ was on the verge of the break. Fuller and Murphy sat paralyzed, their arms outstretched, expecting the locomotive to plunge from the rails. Then, an instant later, they knew that the _Texas_ had miraculously sailed over the gap!