155

XXIV.--ARRESTED ON SUSPICION 161

XXV.--THE TRAIN ROBBER LEARNS OF ROD'S ARREST 168

XXVI.--A WELCOME VISITOR 174

XXVII.--THE SHERIFF IS INTERVIEWED 180

XXVIII.--LIGHT DAWNS UPON THE SITUATION 186

XXIX.--AN ARRIVAL OF FRIENDS AND ENEMIES 192

XXX.--WHERE ARE THE DIAMONDS? 198

XXXI.--ONE HUNDRED MILES AN HOUR! 205

XXXII.--SNATCHING VICTORY FROM DEFEAT 211

XXXIII.--A WRECKING TRAIN 217

XXXIV.--ROD ACCEPTS THE LEGACY 223

XXXV.--FIRING ON NUMBER 10 231

XXXVI.--THE ONLY CHANCE OF SAVING THE SPECIAL 237

XXXVII.--INDEPENDENCE OR PRIDE 245

XXXVIII.--A MORAL VICTORY 252

XXXIX.--SNYDER IS FORGIVEN 258

ILLUSTRATIONS

THE PURSUIT OF THE TRAIN ROBBER _Frontispiece_

PAGE

ROD BLAKE WINS BY A LENGTH 15

SMILER DRIVES OFF THE TRAMP 42

IN THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY 82

ROD ASSISTS THE YOUNG MAN TO THE "LIMITED" 132

THE SHERIFF HANDS ROD THE LEATHER BAG 202

IN THE RAILROAD WRECK 214

"HE LAUNCHED HIMSELF FORWARD" 240

CAB AND CABOOSE:
THE STORY OF A RAILROAD BOY.

CHAPTER I.

"RAILROAD BLAKE."

"Go it, Rod! You've got to go! One more spurt and you'll have him! There
you are over the line! On time! On railroad time! Three cheers for
Railroad Blake, fellows! 'Rah, 'rah, 'rah, and a tigah! Good for you, Rod
Blake! the cup is yours. It was the prettiest race ever seen on the Euston
track, and 'Cider' got so badly left that he cut off and went to the
dressing-room without finishing. Billy Bliss was a good second, though,
and you only beat him by a length."

Amid a thousand such cries as these, from the throats of the excited boys
and a furious waving of hats, handkerchiefs, and ribbon-decked parasols
from the grand stand, the greatest bicycling event of the year so far as
Euston was concerned, was finished, and Rodman Blake was declared winner
of the Railroad Cup. It was the handsomest thing of the kind ever seen in
that part of the country, and had