rk of rescuing the injured. What a
contrast there was between this dapper little man, cool and collected,
with all his wits about him, waiting for his work to begin with a
quietness born of long experience, and Jack, standing on the other side
of the foot-plate, dodging his head from side to side to obtain a better
view of the rails, holding the bundle of lint with fingers which
trembled with nervous excitement, whilst his heart thumped against his
ribs with a force which almost frightened him!

"Steady, Jack, steady!" exclaimed the doctor, smiling encouragingly at
him. "Nothing was ever done well in a hurry. Keep cool, and you will
be able to help me considerably. Ah, there it is! We shall be close up
in a few seconds."

As the doctor spoke the engine ran round a wide curve, and came in full
sight of the spot where the accident had occurred. The axle of the
driving-wheels of the express engine had suddenly snapped, causing the
whole train to leave the rails, and plough along on the gravel. Then
the heavy engine had suddenly toppled over and come to an abrupt halt,
while the carriages had been piled on top of it and on one another in
hopeless confusion.

It was indeed a dreadful disaster. The guard's van and the first
passenger truck lay crushed out of all shape on the gravel, while on top
of them the others were heaped in disorder, with dangling wheels and
shattered woodwork, the whole being surmounted by the last carriage of
all, the end of which was thrown up as high as a house in the air.

About twenty men had already collected near, and these at once set to
work, at Dr Hanly's orders, to climb into the carriages and bring out
the passengers. Jack joined in the work, feeling giddy and thoroughly
upset at the awful sights he saw, and dreading that every body taken
from the wreckage would prove to be his father's.

But the doctor, guessing what his feelings were, called him to help in
bandaging up one of the injured passengers, and kept him hard at work
for an hour at least; so that when Captain Somerton's body was at last
discovered, crushed almost out of recognition, Jack was not there to see
it and be shocked at the sight. Indeed, he did not hear the tidings for
some time, for the doctor required his help; and before long Jack was so
much absorbed in his work that he had forgotten his nervousness, and was
applying splints and bandages together with his friend with a skill and
coolness which would hav