It certainly was no ghost, judging from the manner in which it acted;
for he sat with his hat cocked on one side, a pipe in his mouth, and
the two reins in his hands, just as the skillful driver controls the
mettlesome horses and keeps them well in hand.

He was seated upon a large pile of wood, while near nestled a little
tramp-backed, bright-eyed boy, whose eyes sparkled with delight at the
performance of the strange machine.

The speed of the steam man gradually slackened, until it came opposite
the men, when it came to a dead halt, and the grinning 'Baldy,' as he
was called, (from his having lost his scalp several years before, by
the Indians), tipped his hat and said:

'Glad to see you hain't gone under yit. How'd you git along while I
was gone?'

But the men were hardly able to answer any questions yet, until they
had learned something more about the strange creation before them.
Mickey shied away, as the timid steed does at first sight of the
locomotive, observing which, the boy (at a suggestion from Baldy),
gave a string in his hand a twitch, whereupon the nose of the
wonderful thing threw out a jet of steam with the sharp screech of the
locomotive whistle. Mickey sprung a half dozen feet backward, and
would have run off at full speed down the ravine, had not Ethan
Hopkins caught his arm.

'What's the matter, Mickey, naow! Hain't you ever heard anything like
a locomotive whistle?'