ce, "open the door; all the other carriages are full."

"If you wouldn't mind coming down a few carriages farther, sir,"
suggested our guard, "I can find you two good corner seats at once."

"Open this door at once," cried the gentleman furiously; "there is only
half a minute to spare, and don't you see my father is an invalid?"

Don Juan emerged from his corner with a look of genuine concern upon
his face.

"Let the gentlemen in at once, guard," he ordered. "I would not be the
cause of inconvenience to them on any account. Come in, gentlemen, I
beg."

The guard opened the door, and the two passengers entered just as the
stationmaster called out a remonstrance not to delay the train. The
old gentleman sank back in his seat with a sigh of relief.

"I'm so glad we caught the train," he said breathlessly.

Brooks ran up at the last moment and handed our tickets to the
collector, who had been waiting for them, as the train did not stop
again until it reached Paddington.

As Brooks turned and touched his hat to us, it appeared to me that he
started as he looked into the carriage, but the train was just off and
the ticket collector almost pushed him into the next compartment to
ours--a second, of course.

We puffed out of Bath, and I saw the last of its hills and stone houses
for many a day; indeed, I don't think I have seen it since, except
perhaps in the same way from a flying train. We were soon swallowed up
by a great tunnel, and the Don and I subsided into thoughtfulness and
the quiet enjoyment of our cigars.

Our fellow-travellers in the opposite corners maintained an absolute
silence; they might have been two statues.

But in a few minutes we burst out again into the almost blinding
daylight, and then it seemed to me that the appearance of the two men
we were shut up with had undergone a change. It was, if not my fancy,
a total change in the expression of their faces.

The idea seemed to fascinate me, and I kept my eyes fixed upon them
both.

Presently, after a quick glance at his companion, the old man put his
hand into the pocket of the thick travelling coat he wore and quickly
pulled out a revolver; then in a voice which I knew again full well he
addressed us both, at the same time covering Don Juan with his pistol.

"If you make the slightest movement, or speak without my permission, I
shall fire."

I saw as I sat looking at them that the younger man had also produced a
revolver, and was cov