The youth reached the valve-gear at the same time, and the hands of both
grasped the wheel.
"What are you going to do?" cried Larry, holding on with all his
strength, for the other was trying to turn the wheel.
"I'm going to start the engine. Didn't you hear the whistle? What are
you waiting for?" snapped Croly.
"That was the quarter-whistle; it isn't time to start up yet. And if it
was, you would blow out a couple of cylinder-heads for me by letting on
the steam in that style!"
Larry's face was pale, partly because he thought that the other would
have succeeded in doing the mischief in spite of him. But the determined
face of the boy, coupled with his words, made Croly pause, although he
still allowed his hand to rest on the valve-gear of the great engine.
"You think I don't know enough to start this machine, I suppose," he
said.
"I think if you did know, you wouldn't try to blow out the
cylinder-heads to start with," Larry rejoined.
"You're trying to bluff me now, but you ain't quite old enough to do it.
Just wait till the five-minute whistle blows, and see if I can't start
the machine.
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