AUTHORS NOTE: Okay, they've managed to steal the General, now here comes the hard part. Destroying track, bridges, and telegraph wires. But they'll have to be fast and careful. Not only they will have to watch out for other trains on the line, but Chandler, Flip, and the Bratty Kid are on their trail!
The train continued up the up towards Chattanooga. But a mile outside of Moon Station the train began to slow down. The raiders inside the last boxcar were confused and quickly grabbed their revolvers. "Someone should look outside the boxcar and see what's going on", whispered Lynn Jr. Everyone then went silent as a church mouse on a sunday morning until... "...Dibs not it"! everyone whispered as they quickly touched their noses. But Luan touched her ear. "Dang it".
Slowly and carefully, Luan slid the boxcar door open with her left hand while her right hand was firmly gripped on her Colt model 1851 Navy revolver. She poked her head out and looked. She could see Agnes leaning out of the locomotive's cab talking to a track gang. She turned back towards her fellow spies. "Track repairmen, Agnes is talking to them", she said as she looked back again. "What're they doing?" asked Luna. Luan watched as the track gangers gave Agnes some jacks, sludge hammers, crowbars, and a set of Aldon Railroad rail thighs. "We're borrowing some of their tools", said Luan as she closed the boxcar door again. At that moment the train went back to chuffing up the line again.
A little while later, the train stopped again. "Now what?" asked Mollie. "Grab a hold of your pistols to be on the safe side", said Lori. As they waited, they heard a knock on the boxcar door. "It's me, Liam", a voice said from the outside of the car, "Mrs. Johnson says it's time to pull up some track". Clyde slid open the boxcar door and there was Liam standing next to Agnes, holding some track tools. "Okay guys, let's get to destruction", she said. The raiders climbed down from the boxcar and grabbing a tool, began to pull up some spikes and they used the Aldon rail thighs and some crowbars to lift the rail. Agnes turned to Clyde and Lincoln. "Go get the hack saw", she said, "we're going to cut the telegraph wires".
Clyde and Lincoln came back with the hack saw. Lincoln helped Clyde up, who then climbed up the pole and brought down the telegraph wire. "Okay, let's cut it", said Agnes. After a few thrusts, Clyde and Lincoln cut the wire. Agnes turned to the other raiders who managed to lift the rail. "Put the rail in the boxcar next to the tender", she said. The raiders lifted the rail and carried it towards the first boxcar. After they put the rail in the boxcar. They climbed back into the last car, except for Bobby. "Bobby, I need you to ride on top to keep a lookout", said Agnes, "The crew might still be pursuing us". "Yes ma'am", he said. Bobby climbed up to the top of the boxcar.
Agnes looked at the damage. "Okay that's the first bit of track damaged, now all we got to do is to get through traffic". "Traffic?" asked Lincoln. "I managed to get a copy of the Western & Atlantic Railroad's timetables before we left Marietta", said Agnes, "When we arrive at Kingston, we'll have to wait in the siding to let a freight train pass, then after that, we'll have clear track all the way to Chattanooga". "But won't people get suspicious?" asked Liam. "Don't worry, I have it all under control. We'll pose ourselves as Confederate agents delivering supplies and ammunition to General Tetherby". "This is a danagerous plan we're manuvoring". "Don't worry Lincoln, we just need to keep our cool and we'll be back on Union territory before you can saw "Buzzards on a buzz saw"", said Agnes as she, Liam, and Lincoln went back to the engine.
Chandler, Flip, and Eugene ran and ran for what seemed to be an extremely long time. Then they came upon the track gang that the raiders had passed a while ago. The leader of the track gang, Loki, was confused. "Chandler? What's goin' on?" "Did...didja get a look...at 'em?" "At who?" "The...posse that stole my train?" "STOLE IT?!" Chandler now got his breath back. "Yeah, they stole it while we were having breakfast in the Station Cafe at Marietta. Did they stop here?" "Yeah they did", said Luke. "What for?", asked Chandler.
"A redheaded woman who was in the engine cab stepped down and asked if she and her crew could borrow some tools", said Luke. "A redheaded woman?" Chandler asked suspiciously. "Yeah, she said she worked for General Tetherby". Then at that moment, Flip and Eugene caught up. "I need...I need to rest", he said, "I'm gettin' too old for this". Chandler then had an idea. "We need to borrow your push car", he said. "Why yes indeed Chandler", said Loki as he turned to his men, "Host it up guys".
The track gang lifted their 4 wheeled push car onto the tracks. Chandler, Flip, and Eugene climbed on it and, using a long pole to push the car, began to roll down the track towards the train theives.