.

It was thought at first that all were dead--that not one had escaped;
that every soul had been hurled, with scarcely a moment's warning, into
eternity.

The brave young carpenter was found lying beneath two mangled bodies,
with the beautiful girl whom he had tried to save clasped close in one
of his arms; the other lay crushed beneath him.

"Brother and sister," some one had said, as, bending over them, he had
tried to disengage the lovely girl from his embrace.

He had only been stunned, however, by the shock, when the car struck,
and he now opened his great brown eyes, drawing in a deep, deep breath,
as if thus taking hold anew of the life that had so nearly been dashed
out of him.

This was followed by a groan of pain, and he became conscious that he
had not escaped altogether unscathed.

"Is she safe?" he gasped, his first thought, in spite of his own
sufferings, being for the girl for whom he had braved so much, while he
tried to look into the white, still face hidden upon his breast.

They tried to lift her from him, but her little hands were so tightly
locked at the back of his neck that it was no easy task to unclasp them.

"She is dead," a voice said, when at last she was removed, and some one
tried to ascertain if her heart was still beating; "the shock has killed
her."

"No, no!" sobbed the now completely unnerved young carpenter; "do not
tell me that she is--dead."

"Who are you, my poor fellow? Where do you live? Shall we take you to
the hospital, or do you want to go home?" they asked him.

"Oh, no, not to the hospital--home to my mother," the young man
returned, with difficulty, for his sufferings seemed to increase as he
came to himself more fully.

"No. ---- Hughes street," the poor fellow gasped, and then fainted dead
away.

They had not thought to inquire if the young girl was his sister, but
they took it for granted that she was, so they laid them side by side
and bore them away to Hughes street.

They found, upon inquiry, that the house referred to was occupied by a
Mrs. Richardson.

The woman was away when the sad cortege arrived at her home, but a
latch-key was found in the pocket of the young man, by which an entrance
was effected, and they deposited him upon a bed in a small room leading
from the sitting-room, while the young girl was laid upon a lounge in
the neat and cozy parlor. Then they hastened away to procure a physician
to examine the injuries of the two sufferers.