drance.

But the train had not gone very far before the speed of the locomotive
began to slacken. The fire in the furnace refused to burn, and the
steam was low. While the engineer was trying to discover what was wrong,
Andrews ordered the men to cut the telegraph wire and tear up a rail
from the track. By the time the rail had been torn up and the wire
cut, the engineer had discovered that the dampers of the fire box were
closed. With these open, the boiler began to make steam again, and
the locomotive was soon rattling over the rails once more. It was
the intention of Andrews to run the captured train on the time of the
regular passenger train, so that he would have only one train to meet
and pass before reaching the Resaca River, where he intended to burn the
bridge. This done, it would have been an easy matter to burn the bridges
over the Chickamauga. This crooked stream winds about the valleys so
unexpectedly, and in such curious fashion, that the railroad crosses it
eleven times within a few miles. These eleven bridges Andrews intended
to burn as he went along, and then he would not fear pursuit. His
success seemed to be certain.

The captured locomotive, an old-fashioned machine with a big heavy
smokestack, went clanking and clattering along the road, and reeling
and rumbling through the towns, dragging after it the three box cars
containing the men whom Andrews had brought with him. After passing
a station, the locomotive would be stopped and the wire cut. When the
train reached Cassville, wood and water were running low, and a stop was
made to get a fresh supply. The doors of the box cars were closed, and
the men inside could not be seen. The station agent at this place was
very inquisitive. He wanted to know why so small and insignificant a
freight train was running on the time of the morning passenger train.
Andrews promptly told the agent that the train was not a freight, but an
express, and that it was carrying three cars of gunpowder to Beauregard.
The agent believed the story, and furnished Andrews with a train
schedule.

[Illustration: Tearing up the Rails 295]

From Cassville the distance to Kingston was seven miles, and at that
point a freight train was to be passed. When Andrews reached the place,
he found that the freight had not arrived. He therefore switched his
train into a siding to wait for the freight train, and repeated his
powder story for the benefit of the inquisitive. When the freight