As though to bring assistance, the little man started hastily
toward the tug.

"I'll find some one who'll make you walk!" he called. "You WAIT,
that's all, you WAIT!"

David decided not to wait. It was possible the wharf was private
property and he had been trespassing. In any case, at the flag
station the rights of all men were equal, and if he were in for a
fight he judged it best to choose his own battle-ground. He
recrossed the tracks and sat down on his suit case in a dark
corner of the shed. Himself hidden in the shadows he could see in
the moonlight the approach of any other person.

"They're river pirates," said David to himself, "or smugglers.
They're certainly up to some mischief, or why should they object
to the presence of a perfectly harmless stranger?"

Partly with cold, partly with nervousness, David shivered.

"I wish that train would come," he sighed. And instantly? as
though in answer to his wish, from only a short distance down the
track he heard the rumble and creak of approaching cars. In a
flash David planned his course of action.

The thought of spending the night in a swamp infested by
alligators and smugglers had become intolerable. He must escape,
and he must escape by the train now approaching. To that end the
train must be stopped. His plan was simple. The train was moving