kawanna River
lay directly in the path of the proposed road a wooden trestle about a
hundred feet high had been built across the river. This trestle was of
very frail construction and calculated to sustain only a four-ton
engine and therefore when the seven-ton locomotive from Stourbridge
arrived and was found to weigh nearly double that specification there
was great consternation."

"Did they tear the trestle down and build another?" asked Steve with
much interest.

Mr. Tolman did not heed the question.

"Now in addition to the disconcerting size of the engine," he continued,
"the wooden rails which had been laid during the previous season had
warped with the snows and were in anything but desirable condition. So
altogether the prospect of trying out the enterprise, on which a good
deal of money had already been spent, was not alone disheartening but
perilous."

"The inspectors or somebody else would have put an end to such a crazy
scheme jolly quick if it had been in our day, wouldn't they?" grinned
the boy.

"Yes, nobody could get very far with anything so unsafe now," his father
responded. "But all this happened before the era of inspectors,
construction laws, or the _Safety First_ slogan. Hence no one interfered
with Horatio Allen. If he chose to break his neck and the necks of many
others as well he was free to do so. Therefore, nothing daunted, he got
up steam in his baby engine, which was the more absurd for having
painted at its front a fierce red lion, and off he started--along his
hemlock railroad. The frail bridge swayed and bent as the locomotive
rumbled over it but by sheer miracle it did not give way and Allen
reached the other side without being plunged to the bottom of the
river."

Steve drew a long breath of relief.

"Did they go on using the railroad after that?" he asked.

His father shook his head.

"No," he replied. "Although every one agreed that the demonstration was
a success the wooden rails were not durable enough to last long and the
company was not rich enough to replace them with metal ones. Therefore,
in spite of Allen's pleas and his wonderful exhibition of courage, the
road fell into disuse, the engine was taken apart, and the enterprise
abandoned."

"What a pity!"

"Yes, it was, for had New York persevered in this undertaking the
railroad might have made its advent in the United States much sooner
than it did. As it was, once again, like a meteor, the experiment
flashed