outherners yet!" He
positively refused to think of failure at this late stage of the game. Yet
it was a game that did not seem to promise certain success.

Thus the race continued, with "The General" sometimes rocking and reeling
like a drunken man. On they rushed, past small stations, swinging around
curves with the men in the car sitting on the floor and clinging to one
another for fear they would be knocked out by the roughness of the motion.
As George thought of this terrible journey in after years he wondered why
it was that engine, car and passengers were not hurled headlong from the
track.

"We are coming to Dalton," suddenly announced Andrews. Dalton was a
good-sized town twenty-two miles above Calhoun, and formed a junction with
the line running to Cleveland, Tennessee.

"We must be careful here," said Andrews, "for we don't know who may be
waiting to receive us. If a telegram was sent via the coast up to
Richmond, and then down to Dalton, our real character may be known. Brown,
be ready to reverse your engine if I give the signal--then we'll back out
of the town, abandon the train, and take to the open fields."

George wondered if, by doing this, they would not fall into the hands of
their pursuers. But there was no chance for argument.

The speed of "The General" was now slackened, so that the engine
approached the station at a rate of not more than fifteen miles an hour.
Andrews saw nothing unusual on the platform; no soldiers; no preparations
for arrest.

"Go ahead," he said, "and stop at the platform. The coast's clear so
far."

It was necessary that a stop should be made at Dalton for the reason that
there were switches at this point, owing to the junction of the Cleveland
line, and it would be impossible to run by the station without risking a
bad accident. It was necessary, furthermore, that this stop should be as
brief as possible, for the dilapidated looks of the broken baggage car and
the general appearance of the party were such as to invite suspicion upon
too close a scrutiny. Then, worse still, the enemy might arrive at any
moment. Andrews was again equal to the occasion. As the forlorn train drew
up at the station he assumed the air and bearing of a major-general, told
some plausible story about being on his way with dispatches for
Beauregard, and ordered that the switches should be immediately changed so
that he could continue on to Chattanooga. Once again did his confident
manner hoodwi