CHAPTER X

A RAILROAD ACCIDENT

Jogging along the road to the depot, the four chums asked each other all sorts of questions, as to whether this or that article had been included in the camping outfit. For so much remained to be done at the last minute, in spite of preparations some time ahead, that they were afraid something would be forgotten. But, fortunately, everything necessary seemed to have been put in the packages, which had been shipped on ahead, so they would be there when the campers arrived. They were to get out at the railroad station of Cannistota, and drive ten miles into the woods.

"Say, what did you do about your mud turtles, Fenn?" asked Bart, as the sled bumped along, for the road was rough.

"Oh, I arranged with Sandy Merton to feed them. I'm going to pay him for it. He promised to look after them. I hope he doesn't forget. Hello! there he comes now. Hello, Sandy!" called Fenn, as he saw the president of the Shamma Shig secret society plodding along through the snow.

"Hello," responded Sandy, transferring his bundle of books from one arm to the other. "Say, but you fellows are lucky chaps! Cutting out several weeks of school, and going off hunting. I wish I was you!"

"Don't forget my turtles," pleaded Fenn.

"I'll attend to 'em, Stumpy," promised Sandy. "Bring me back a bear skin; will you?"

"If we get enough for ourselves we will," agreed Bart, and Sandy went on to school, looking back at the chums with envious eyes, for, as has been explained, the campers left about a week before the Christmas holidays began.

"Well, maybe we'll have a good time--I mean of _course_ we will," said Frank, "but, all the same, Sandy is better off than we are--in one respect."

"How?" asked Ned.

"He isn't under suspicion of having stolen a valuable diamond bracelet."

"That's right. Hang it all! I wish we could clear that thing up," remarked Bart, with energy. "Never mind, maybe it will clear itself up before we get back."

"Whoa!" called Jed, suddenly, pulling up his team.

"What's the matter?" asked Ned.

"The nigh horse jest stumbled with its left fore foot," explained the driver, as he got out of the sled.

"Hurt?" inquired Bart.

"No, but it's a sign of bad luck, and I don't like it, especially when you fellows are going off on a pleasure trip."

"What are you going to do?" Frank wanted to know, for Jed was kicking away the snow in front of the horses.

"I'm looking for a black stone," he explained. "If you can find a black stone, after a horse stumbles like that, it's all right."

The boys wanted to laugh at the almost childish superstition exhibited by Jed, but did not want to make him feel bad, so they managed to keep sober faces, as he kicked about in the small drifts. Finally he uttered a triumphant cry.

"I've found it!" he announced, as he pocketed a small black stone. "Now it will be all right. Gid-dap, ponies," and the horses started off again, utterly indifferent to signs of all kinds.

The four chums talked of nothing but camp on the way to the station, and, as for Jed, he was so occupied in watching for signs and omens, good and bad, that he was not a brilliant conversationalist. Just as they approached the depot the driver pulled sharply to the right, turned out of the main road, and urged his horses in a circle around the standpipe of the water tank that supplied the locomotive tenders. Then he swung the team up to the platform.

"Why did you do that?" asked Ned, in curiosity.

"For good luck," replied Jed. "Nothing better for good luck than going around in a circle just before you start off on a journey. It's sure to bring you back safe, and I want to see you lads again."

"How do you make it out that a circle will bring any one back safe?" inquired Frank.

"Because, it stands to reason, don't it?" asked Jed, with conviction. "A circle's round, ain't it? Very well, bein' round it hasn't got any end, nor yet any beginnin'. That means you've got to come back to the place where you started. I know a circle always brings good luck when you're goin' on a journey. I know it for sure. Once I went over to Hampton Junction without goin' around in a circle before I started. What was the result? A feller stole my pocketbook that had a dollar an' nineteen cents in it. Don't tell me there's nothing in signs."

The boys laughed, and Jed did not seem to mind. They leaped out on the station platform, and paid the teamster, who wished them all sorts of good luck, in addition to having worked the "circle degree" on them, as Ned expressed it.

"Here!" exclaimed Jed suddenly, as the chums were about to go and purchase their tickets, and he held out a black object to Bart.

"What is it?" inquired the lad.

"That black, lucky stone I picked up when the horse stumbled. Take it along. It will keep you from having an accident, Bart." The youth was about to refuse, but not wishing to hurt Jed's feelings he put the rock in his pocket.

A little later the train pulled in, and, getting aboard, the four chums waved a farewell to Jed, who could be observed standing up in his sled, making some queer signs, evidently with the idea of bringing more good luck.

"Well, we're off at last," remarked Ned, as the train gathered speed, "and some of Jed's signs seem to be coming true."

"How do you make that out?" asked Frank.

"It's going to clear," replied Ned, with a look at the sky. "I shan't mind snow, after we've got our camp established, but it's no fun to set up tents in a storm, so I'm glad it's going to clear. Jed's signs are all right."

It was a ride of several hours to Cannistota, and the boys beguiled the time as best they could. About noon, when the train was passing through a lonely mountainous region, where the woods were as dense as if they had never been cut, Frank remarked:

"Well, what do you say to lunch? It's about time," for they had brought along a goodly supply of food, as they could get no meals on the train.

"I'm with you," announced Bart, as he reached up to the rack over the seats for the baskets. He was standing on his tip-toes, for the rack was high, and was just taking down one of the small hampers, when there came a sudden crash, followed by a ripping, tearing sound, and before Bart knew what had happened he was deposited in a heap on top of Fenn, who, in turn, was mixed up with Frank and Ned.

Bart lay stunned for a few seconds and then, as he picked himself up, and the other lads regained their feet, they saw that every passenger in the car had been hurled from his or her seat.

"What happened?" cried Bart.

At the same moment from the car in which were the four chums, as well as from the other coaches, there arose the shrill screams of women, and the crying of children. The train had rolled on for a few feet, after the crash, but had come to a sudden stop.

"An accident!" cried Fenn. "The train's wrecked! Come on, let's get out," and he scrambled to his feet and started for the door as the conductor and a brakeman ran through the car toward the engine.