hat set the ear-drums
tingling, to hoarse, cavernous bellows like echoing thunder.

"Must be something wrong with the animals," said Coussirat, with an
appreciative grin. "They weren't yowling like that when we
started--guess they don't like their Pullmans."

"It's enough to give you the creeps," growled Fatty Hogan.

Coussirat reached for the chain, and with an expert flip flung wide the
furnace door--and the bright glow lighted up the heavens and shot the
black of the cab into leaping, fiery red. Coussirat swung around,
reaching for his shovel--and grabbed Hogan's arm instead, as a chorus
of unearthly, chattering shrieks rent the air.

"For the love of Mike, for God's sake, Fatty," he gasped, "look at
that!"

Perched on the tender, on the top of the water tank, just beyond the
edge of the coal, sat a well-developed and complacent ape--and, as
Coussirat looked, from the roof of the property car, behind the tender,
another swung to join the first.

"Jiminy Christmas!" yelled Hogan, screwed around in his seat. "The
whole blasted tribe of monkeys is loose! That's what's wrong with the
rest of the animals--the little devils have probably been teasing them
through the barred air-holes at the ends of the cars. Look at 'em!
Look at 'em come!"

Coussirat was looking--he hadn't stopped looking. Along the roof of
the property car they came, a chattering, jabbering, swaying string of
them--and on the brake wheel two sat upright, lurching and clinging for
dear life, the short hair blown straight back from their foreheads with
the sweep of the wind, while they peered with earnest, strained faces
into the cab. And the rest, two dozen strong now, massed on the roof
of the property car, perilously near the edges for anything but
monkeys, inspected the cab critically, picked at each other's hides,
made gestures, some of which were decidedly uncomplimentary, and
chattered volubly to their leaders already on the tender. The tender
seemed to appeal. Down came another monkey via the brake-rod, and
swung by its tail with a sort of flying-trapeze effect to the
tender--and what one did another did--the accommodation on the water
tank was being crowded--the front rank moved up on the coal.

"Say!" bawled Coussirat to his mate. "Say, Fatty, get up and give 'em
your seat--there's ladies present. And say, what are we going to do
about it? The little pets ought to be put back to bed."

"Do nothing!" snapped Hogan, one wary e