the bulge on the steam-driven.

"In the case of the Hendrickton & Pas Alos there are very steep
grades to overcome. Supposedly an electric motor-drive should
achieve the same speed on a hill as on the level. But there is
the weight of the train to be counted on.

"The H. & P. A. has a two per cent. grade in more than one
place. Mr. Bartholomew confessed as much to me last night. The
electric-driven locomotive of the powerful freight type, which
the Jandel people built for Mr. Bartholomew, can make about
sixteen miles an hour on those grades, although they can hit it
up to thirty miles an hour on level track.

"His passenger locomotives turn off a mile a minute and more,
on the level road; but they can not climb those steep grades at a
much livelier pace than the freight engines. That is why he is
talking about two-mile-a-minute locomotives. He must get a mighty
speedy locomotive, for both freight and passenger service, to
keep ahead of Montagne Lewis's rival road, the Hendrickton &
Western."

"You don't suppose it can be done, do you?" demanded Ned. "The
two-mile-a-minute locomotive, I mean, Tom."

"That is the target I am to aim for," returned his friend,
soberly. "At any rate, I hope to improve on the type of
locomotive Mr. Bartholomew is now using, so that the hundred
thousand dollars bonus will come our way as well as this first
twenty-five thousand."