riously
above the track. Then it broke loose from the train, and sprang forward.
In another moment it emerged from the tunnel, and was brought to a
standstill, like some panting, frightened animal, a few yards beyond its
mouth.

The occupants of the cab, bruised and shaken, stared at each other with
blanched, awe-stricken faces. They had seen the train behind them
swallowed by a vast tumbling mass of rock, and believed themselves the
only survivors of one of the most hideous of railroad disasters. Only
Rod thought he had seen the end of the baggage car protruding from the
crushing mass, just as the locomotive became released and sprang forward.

"The tunnel roof has caved in," said the engineman with a tone of horror;
"and not a soul can have escaped beside ourselves. All those hundreds of
people are lying in there, crushed beyond recognition. Oh, it is terrible!
terrible!" and tears, expressive of the agony of his mind, coursed down
the strong man's cheeks. Partially recovering himself in a moment, he
said, "There is nothing left for us to do but go on to Euston, report what
has happened, and stop all trains."

Rod Blake agreed that this was the engineman's first duty; but declared
his intention of staying behind, and of going back into the tunnel, to see
if there was not some one who might yet be saved. In vain they urged him
not to, and pointed out the danger as well as the hopelessness of the
attempt. He was certain that the end of the baggage car could be reached,
and remembered the figure he had seen standing in it, as they entered the
tunnel. He felt no trace of resentment against Snyder Appleby now; only a
great overwhelming pity, coupled with the conviction that he was still
within reach of help.

Finally they left him; and, armed with an axe from the tender, the young
fireman again entered the dreadful darkness. Loose stones were still
falling from the roof of the tunnel, and more than one of these struck and
painfully bruised him. The air was stifling with clouds of dust and smoke.
Only the lad's dauntless will and splendid courage enabled him to keep on.
All at once the splintered end of a car assumed shape in the obscurity
ahead of him. He heard a slow rending of wood, as one after another of its
stout timbers gave way, and then, above all other sounds, came an agonized
human cry.

How Rod cut his way into that car, how he found and dragged out Snyder
Appleby's mangled form, or how he managed to bear i