the ends and center. To
anchor the track we drove short posts into the ground so that their
upper ends lay flush with the surface. A post was provided under each
joint and one under the center of each rail, and then the slab ties were
nailed securely to these posts. In imitation of a full-sized railway, we
made it a point to "break joints" on our track; that is, to make the end
of one rail come in line with the center of the opposite rail, as shown
in Fig. 302. Our track was continued across the pontoon bridge and ran
around the west shore of Kite Island. The track was straight as far as
the shore of Kite Island, whence, by an easy curve, it was carried
around to the log cabin.

THE FIRST RAILWAY ACCIDENT.

Dutchy was the first one to try the railway. He sneaked back to the
platform while the rest of us were putting a few last touches on the
track. The first we knew the car came tearing down the track at full
speed, with Dutchy yelling at the top of his voice for us to get out of
his way. Bill was on the bridge when the car came along and he had no
time to run for shore, but with great presence of mind he jumped into
the water and clung to one of the barrels. But the joke of it all was
that Dutchy himself got a wetting too. The track at the middle of the
bridge was not quite true to gauge. It was this very spot that Bill was
fixing up when Dutchy came along. The end of a rail was bent in far
enough to catch the flange of one of the car wheels, and in a moment
Dutchy, car and all, was slung head over heels into the mill-race.
Fortunately no serious harm was done. Dutchy landed a little ways
down-stream, and Reddy, by quick work, managed to rescue the car just as
it was floating off under the suspension bridge. The car was undamaged
except that the flange of a wheel was split off.

Of course, Bill was as mad as a hornet at Dutchy, and expressed his
feelings in no mild terms. But his anger was somewhat tempered by the
fact that Dutchy received as bad a punishment as he had inflicted.

[Illustration: The Start of the Gravity Railroad.]

TESTING THE TRACK.

We had to cut a new flange disk for the broken wheel, and to prevent the
flanges from splitting off again we nailed a batten across the inner
face of each wheel extending down to the very edge of the flange disk.
This batten was fastened on across the grain. When everything was
completed the car was started down the track empty to see if it would
keep the rails