ad bumped something?"

"But we didn't bump anything, except my brain tank. An idea bumped it,
I tell you. I am going to eliminate any such peril as that here-after."

"You mean you are going to make it impossible for this locomotive ever
to slide down such a hill again if the brakes won't work? Humph!
Meanwhile I will go out and make the nearest water-fall begin to run
upward."

"Don't scoff. I do not mean just what you mean."

"I bet you don't!"

"But although I cannot be sure that a locomotive will never again fall
downhill," said Tom patiently, "I'm going to fix it so that warning
need not be given by some operator along the line. The engineer must
be able to send warning of his accident, both up and down the road."

"Huh? How are you going to do that?" demanded Ned.

"Wireless telephone. I may make some improvements on the present
models; but it is practicable. It has been used on submarines and
cruisers, and lately its practicability has been proved in the forestry
service.

"Every one of these electric locomotives I turn out will be supplied
with wireless sets. The expense of making certain telegraph offices
along the line into receiving stations will be small. I am going to
take that up with Mr. Bartholomew at once. And I am going to fix these
brake controls so that nobody need ball them up again."

If, out of such a desperate adventure, Tom could bring to fruition
really worthwhile improvements in relation to his invention, Ned
acknowledged the value of the incident. Just the same, he had a
personal objection to having any part in a similar experience.

He was brave, but he could not forget danger. Tom seemed to throw the
effect of that terrible ride off his mind almost instantly. Ned dreamed
of it at night!

However, from that time things seemed to go with a rush. Mr.
Bartholomew approved of the young inventor's suggestion regarding the
use of the wireless telephone as a method of averting a certain quality
of danger in the use of the proposed monster locomotive. The railroad
man was convinced that Tom's ideas were finally to culminate in
success, and he was ready to spend money, much money, in pushing on the
work.

It was not long before a private test of the Hercules 0001 up the grade
from Hammon to Cliff City showed Mr. Bartholomew that the speed he had
required in his contract was attainable. With a drag fully as heavy as
any two locomotives had been able to get over the same sector, the n