e my two
companions. Come what might, you see, I was always ready.

"The moment that the train was fairly on the side line, Smith, the
stoker, slowed-down the engine, and then, having turned it on to the
fullest speed again, he and McPherson, with my English lieutenant,
sprang off before it was too late. It may be that it was this
slowing-down which first attracted the attention of the travellers, but
the train was running at full speed again before their heads appeared
at the open window. It makes me smile to think how bewildered they
must have been. Picture to yourself your own feelings if, on looking
out of your luxurious carriage, you suddenly perceived that the lines
upon which you ran were rusted and corroded, red and yellow with disuse
and decay! What a catch must have come in their breath as in a second
it flashed upon them that it was not Manchester but Death which was
waiting for them at the end of that sinister line. But the train was
running with frantic speed, rolling and rocking over the rotten line,
while the wheels made a frightful screaming sound upon the rusted
surface. I was close to them, and could see their faces. Caratal was
praying, I think--there was something like a rosary dangling out of his
hand. The other roared like a bull who smells the blood of the
slaughter-house. He saw us standing on the bank, and he beckoned to us
like a madman. Then he tore at his wrist and threw his dispatch-box
out of the window in our direction. Of course, his meaning was
obvious. Here was the evidence, and they would promise to be silent if
their lives were spared. It would have been very agreeable if we could
have done so, but business is business. Besides, the train was now as
much beyond our controls as theirs.

"He ceased howling when the train rattled round the curve and they saw
the black mouth of the mine yawning before them. We had removed the
boards which had covered it, and we had cleared the square entrance.
The rails had formerly run very close to the shaft for the convenience
of loading the coal, and we had only to add two or three lengths of
rail in order to lead to the very brink of the shaft. In fact, as the
lengths would not quite fit, our line projected about three feet over
the edge. We saw the two heads at the window: Caratal below, Gomez
above; but they had both been struck silent by what they saw. And yet
they could not withdraw their heads. The sight seemed to have
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