"It killed two tomcats," said Mr. Damon. "I certainly was glad
of that, for those two ash-barrel cats kept the whole
neighborhood awake. Bless my claws and whiskers! how those two
cats did use to yell. But when one tried to climb the wires and
the other sprang on him, it was all over! That is, all over but
the burial party."

Mr. Damon was on the ground when the mechanical equipment and a
part of the electrical equipment of the new locomotive arrived
and was set up in the erection shed. The length of the machine
was what first impressed Ned Newton as well as Mr. Damon.

"Bless my yardstick!" exclaimed the eccentric
man, it's as long as a gossip's tongue. What a
monster it will he!"

"How long is it, Tom?" asked Ned Newton.

"When completed, and standing on its drivers and bogie truck and
trailer truck, from cow-catcher to rear bumper it will be a few
inches over ninety feet. And that is slightly longer than the
biggest electric locomotive so far built. But length does not so
much enter into the value of the machine. I would have it built
more compactly if I could."

"What is the horsepower?" asked Mr. Damon.

"I figure on forty-four hundred horsepower. The power must be
received from a three thousand-volt direct-current trolley.
There are twelve driving-wheels, as you can see. Each pair of