tion of a second, as it seemed, there was a grating,
a horrible grind of iron, a bump, a check, and my head was buried in
the cushions of the opposite side of the carriage, and I felt
stunned--not much, but a little.

"What--what?" I heard myself exclaim. "They must have plumped the
brakes on pretty sudden."

Then, quite after an interval, it occurred to me that this was a
railway accident--one of those things that one reads of in the papers
with so much calmness. I wondered if I was hurt, and why I could hear
no sound; the silence was absolute--terrifying.

In a vague, aimless way, I sought for my matchbox, and struck a
light. I had just time to observe that both windows were smashed, and
the floor of the compartment tilted, when the match went out in the
wind. I had heard no noise of breaking glass.

I stumbled slowly to the door, and tried to open it, but the thing
would not budge. Whereupon I lost my temper.

"Open, you beast, you beast, you beast!" I cried to the door, kicking
it hard, and yet not feeling the impact.

Then another thought--a proud one, which served to tranquillize me: "I
am a doctor, and they will want me to attend to the wounded."

I remembered my flask, and unscrewing the stopper with difficulty,
clutched the mouth with my teeth and drank. After that I was sane and
collected. Now I could hear people tramping on the ground outside, and
see the flash of lanterns. In another moment a porter, whose silver
buttons gleamed in the darkness, was pulling me through the window.

"Hurt?"

"No, not I. But if any one else is, I'm a doctor."

"Here's a doctor, sir," he yelled to a gray-headed man near by. Then
he stood still, wondering what he should do next. I perceived in the
near distance the lights of a station.

"Is that Dover?"

"No, sir; Dover Priory. Dover's a mile further on. There was a goods
wagon got derailed on the siding just beyond the home signal, and it
blocked the down line, and the driver of the express ran right into
it, although the signal was against him--ran right into it, 'e did."

Other people were crawling out of the carriages now, and suddenly
there seemed to be scores of spectators, and much shouting and running
about. The engine lay on its side, partly overhanging a wrecked wagon.
Immense clouds of steam issued from it, hissing above the roar of the
wind. The tender was twisted like a patent hairpin in the middle. The
first coach, a luggage-van, stood upright, and s