drowsiness of the car increased. Only his captors and himself seemed
immune to the contagion of sleep. The muttering of the pair behind had
ceased. The women in mourning had controlled their grief. One of them
had left her seat, and, carrying a tin cup, moved along the aisle
towards the water tank. Garth saw Slim glance at his watch. He took in
George's contented smile, evidently appreciative of the smoothness of
their escape.

Without warning a dark and chaotic confusion descended upon and
destroyed the smooth orderliness of their journey. With a sudden jar the
brakes locked. The jolting of the wheels, as if they had left the rails,
flung the passengers from their sluggish indifference. The lights
expired, leaving a darkness almost palpable, through which one
momentarily flinched from the splintering, destructive violence of a
collision.

During that first instant Garth was lashed by misgivings for the time,
as compelling as those which had been constantly inspired by the threat
opposite; and in the last flash of light he had seen that the steady
courage of his captors had furnished no antidote for this uncharted
peril. As women screamed and men fought along the aisle towards the door
he endeavored frantically and without success to free himself. The
turmoil might involve Slim and George, might smash that atrocious
weapon, but he could do nothing.

Then he felt George's arms about him. He heard Slim's oath. The jolting
of the wheels was less difficult. The train resumed its smooth haste.
The lights came on, and Garth stared at the inspector and other men he
knew, holding leveled revolvers. Somebody cried out:

"Take care!"

Garth turned in time to see Slim whirling the bottle from which the cork
had been drawn, and from whose neck the liquid was already spouting
towards his face.

"Then shoot!" Slim shouted.

He heard Nora's voice, screaming:

"You won't, Slim!"

He moved his head. He saw the woman in mourning who had thrown back her
veil, exposing Nora's face and Nora's eyes which reflected the unbelief
and the horror of her voice. The future seemed to crush upon him, a
sable weight, lowered by her as the result of a deliberate choice.

The liquid struck his forehead, filled his eyes. He wondered why the
pain wasn't greater. He could not grasp the fact that he still read
through a blur the tense unbelief of Nora's face, and saw vaguely the
two condemned men struggling in the grasp of the detectives who f