Page:The Secret of the Old Mill.pdf/154

146 themselves in the gymnasium in the barn for some time, had an impromptu boxing match and finally, after a shower bath, went down street. It was a sleepy Saturday afternoon and the city was very quiet.

"Nothing much doing around here," remarked Frank. "We should have stayed out in the country."

"We could go out in the motorboat for a while."

"Fine. Let's go."

But at that moment they heard the whistle of the afternoon express. Like most boys, they had a weakness for trains. There was a fascination about the great locomotives that held them spellbound and they liked nothing better than to watch the trains that passed through Bayport and to speculate on the towns and cities they had come from or were bound for. At times when school became exceptionally distasteful they had often gone down to the railway station and wished they could board the first train that came by, to travel on to strange countries. Somehow, they had never been so daring as to do this, common sense invariably coming to the rescue, but the lure of locomotives and shining rails still held them in its grasp.

They moved down the street toward the station and came out on the platform just as the