for he was crushed beyond recognition. Fortunately no other lives were
lost, though the passengers were terribly shaken up, and two of the
freight cars were piled up on the engine.

"Jack's fidelity, I am sure, averted a worse catastrophe. He met the
fate of a hero, and it was always a mystery to me the company never did
more for his family.

"Hey! As I live, the Swan is falling into another ugly mood!"

They were rushing along at a tremendous rate, and an inexperienced eye
would have seen nothing amiss.

In fact, the engineer himself could not. The driving-rods were shooting
back and forth in perfect play, while the large drivers were revolving
with clock-like regularity. Every now and then Jockey would give the
lever a slight pressure, which would be instantly felt by the iron
steed.

Despite all this the Silver Swan was not doing as well as she ought. She
was barely keeping her course at the usual speed.

Jockey glanced to the boiler. The index finger pointed to the gauge at
122 degrees. Three more degrees was all she could stand. Rock was doing
his duty. The track was straight and level. Still the Swan showed no
disposition to gain the twenty minutes coveted time.

The old engineer shook his grizzled head and the furrows deepened on his
careworn visage.