.

"That's true," said another. "If we had more men like him, there would
be fewer accidents."

"Let's give him something," whispered a third.

The suggestion was eagerly acted on. A subscription was made on the
spot, and in three minutes the sum of about ten pounds was thrust into
John's huge dirty hand by the enthusiastic commercial traveller. But
John firmly refused to take it.

"What's to be done with it, then?" demanded the traveller, "_I_ can't
keep it, you know, and I'm not going to sit down here and spend
half-an-hour in returning the money. If you don't take it John, I must
fling it under the engine or into the furnace."

"Well," said the driver, after a moment's consideration, while he closed
his hand on the money and thrust it into his breeches pocket, "I'll take
it. It will help to replace the cart we smashed, if I can find the
owner."

While this was going on near the engine, the robbers were being removed
from their carriage to receive the due reward of their deeds. Three
tall and strong-boned men had been on the platform for some time
awaiting the arrival of the "Flying Dutchman." Swift though John
Marrot's iron horse was, a swifter messenger had passed on the line
before him. The electric spark--and a fast volatile, free-and-easy, yet
faithful spark it is--had been commissioned to do a little service that
day. Half-an-hour after the train had left Clatterby a detective,
wholly unconnected with our friend Sharp, had called and sent a message
to London to have Thomson, Jenkins, and Smith apprehended, in
consequence of their connexion with a case of fraud which had been
traced to them. The three tall strong-boned men were there in virtue of
this telegram. But, accustomed though these men were to surprising
incidents, they had scarcely expected to find that the three culprits
had added another to their many crimes, and that one of them had leaped
out of the train and out of their clutches--in all probability out of
the world altogether! Two of the strong men went off immediately in
search of him, or his remains, while the other put proper manacles on
Jenkins and Smith and carried them off in a cab.

Meanwhile Joe Turner saw that all the other passengers were got
carefully out of the train. He was particularly polite in his
attentions, however, to the "late passenger!"

"You have forgot, ma'am," he said politely, "to give up your
dog-ticket."

"Dog-ticket!" exclaimed the lady, blushin