and they were once more
alone in the sliding snow. Breckenridge drew a breath of relief.

"There's the stock train, any way. And now for the bridge!" he said.

"That was the easiest half of it. Muller was there--I saw him--and he
could have warned the agent at the last minute," Grant answered.

Neither of them said anything further, but Breckenridge felt his heart
beat faster as the snow whirled by. The miles were slipping behind them,
and he was by no means so sure as Larry was that no attempt would be made
upon the bridge. His fancy would persist in picturing the awful leap into
the outer darkness through the gap in the trestle, and he felt his lips
and forehead grow a trifle colder and his flesh shrink in anticipation of
the tremendous shock. He looked at Grant; the latter's face was very
quiet, and had lost its grimness and weariness--there was almost a
suggestion of exaltation in it.

"We are almost on the bridge now," he said.

The engineer nodded, and the next moment Breckenridge, who had been
watching the light of the headlamp flash along the snow beside the track,
saw it sweep on, as it were, through emptiness. Then, he heard a roar of
timber beneath him, and fancied he could look down into a black gulf
through the filmy snow. He knew it was a single track they were speeding
over, and that the platform of the calaboose behind them overhung the
frozen river far below.

He set his lips and held his breath for what seemed a very long time, and
then, with a sigh of relief, sank back into his seat as he felt by the
lessening vibration, that there was frozen soil under them. But in spite
of himself the hands he would have lighted a cigar with shook, and the
engineer who looked round glanced at him curiously.

"Feeling kind of sick?" he said. "Well, it's against the regulations, but
there's something that might fix you as well as tea in that can."

Breckenridge smiled feebly. "The fact is, I have never travelled on a
locomotive before, and when I took on the contract I didn't quite know all
I was letting myself in for," he said.

"How far are we off the long down grade with the curve in it?" asked
Grant.

"We might get there in 'bout ten minutes," said the engineer.

"Slacken up before you reach the grade and put your headlamp out," said
Grant. "I want you to stop just this side of the curve, and wait for me
five minutes."

The engineer looked at him steadily. "Now, there's a good deal I don't
understan