railway literature, neither of them made any pretence at reading. The
older man, with his feet upon the opposite seat and his arms folded,
was looking pensively through the rain-splashed window-pane into the
impenetrable darkness. The young man, although he could not ignore his
companion's unsociable instincts, was fidgety.

"There will be some floods out to-morrow," he remarked.

Mr. Dunster turned his head and looked across the saloon. There was
something in the deliberate manner of his doing so, and his hesitation
before he spoke, which seemed intended to further impress upon the young
man the fact that he was not disposed for conversation.

"Very likely," was his sole reply.

Gerald Fentolin sighed as though he regretted his companion's
taciturnity and a few minutes later strolled to the farther end of the
saloon. He spent some time trying to peer through the streaming window
into the darkness. He chatted for a few minutes with the guard, who was,
however, in a bad temper at having had to turn out and who found little
to say. Then he took one of his golf clubs from the bag and indulged in
several half swings. Finally he stretched himself out upon one of the
seats and closed his eyes.

"May as well try to get a nap," he yawned. "There won't be much chance
on the steamer, if it blows like this."

Mr. Dunster said nothing. His face was set, his eyes were looking
somewhere beyond the confines of the saloon in which he was seated. So
they travelled for over an hour. The young man seemed to be dozing in
earnest when, with a succession of jerks, the train rapidly slackened
speed. Mr. Dunster let down the window. The interior of the carriage was
at once thrown into confusion. A couple of newspapers were caught up and
whirled around, a torrent of rain beat in. Mr. Dunster rapidly closed
the window and rang the bell. The guard came in after a moment or two.
His clothes were shiny from the wet; raindrops hung from his beard.

"What is the matter?" Mr. Dunster demanded. "Why are we waiting here?"

"There's a block on the line somewhere," the man replied. "Can't
tell where exactly. The signals are against us; that's all we know at
present."

They crawled on again in about ten minutes, stopped, and resumed their
progress at an even slower rate. Mr. Dunster once more summoned the
guard.

"Why are we travelling like this?" he asked impatiently. "We shall never
catch the boat."

"We shall catch the boat all right if it