The _General_ was thundering down upon the station at Ringgold. The men stood in the tender gazing silently back, watching for the _Texas_ to come around the curve. "There!" Tom looked down the track. The Texas, pushing the smoldering freight car before her, was still after them! The Ringgold station flashed past, with the bewildered agent looking first at one locomotive and then at the other. The General whipped around the curve. "Slow down, Knight!" ordered Andrews. "Jump off, men. Scatter and make your way back to the lines!" Knight shut the throttle and allowed the _General_ to lose speed. Tom, Andrews, and Brown stood aside while the men filed from the tender into the cab. The first stood on the step for a moment, then jumped. Tom saw him strike the trackside and go sprawling. The second jumped ... the third ... the fourth.... "Get ready to reverse the engine, Knight," said Andrews. "We'll send it back on them." Knight threw the lever over. "They'll stop in Ringgold for a minute to shunt that car." All the men, except the engine crew, were off. "You next, Tom," ordered Andrews. "Then Brown and Knight. I'll stay by the engine and send her back. Here, Tom, take your coat." In that last moment, Andrews was as calm as if he had reached the end of some commonplace, humdrum journey. Tom took his coat and put it on. He paused for a second on the step of the _General_, then leaped. His feet struck the ground and he pitched forward. He arose, dazed and shaken, and stepped into the woods which lined the track. The _General_ disappeared up the track; a minute later the _Texas_ passed him, and he caught a glimpse of the two men who had pursued them from Big Shanty. They were sitting on the edge of the tender, leaning forward eagerly. "If we'd only stopped to fight them!" thought Tom. But it was too late for that now. The great railroad race was over, and ahead of him lay miles of enemy country. He wondered where the other men were, if he would meet them. He was aroused from his thoughts by the noise of a locomotive coming from the north. The _Texas_ came rolling back, with the two men on the tender waving to the engineer; the _General_ followed, steaming down the track with its cab deserted. But the Southerners had seen it in time to avoid collision. The gap between the two locomotives narrowed; then they came together gently. One of the men jumped to the _General's_ tender, rushed into the cab and shut the throttle. The locomotive which had carried the raiders on that wild trip from Big Shanty was again in the hands of the Confederates. Tom stood behind a tree watching them. Presently the _Texas_ started north, pushing the _General_ before her. The last of its fuel and steam had been used in that final charge down the track.