It was
evident that their burden was a heavy one, for they stopped more than
once while ascending the steep grassy slope, and once, when near the
top, one of the party slipped, and there was a sound as though he had
fallen upon his knees, together with a stifled oath. They reached the
top, however, and their figures, which had disappeared from view, came
into sight again, standing out dimly against the murky sky. They bent
down over the railway line, and placed the indistinguishable mass which
they bore carefully upon it.

"We must have the light," said a voice.

"No, no; there's no need," another expostulated.

"We can't work in the dark," said a third, loudly and harshly.
"Where's your lantern, guv'nor? I've got a lucifer."

"We must manage that the train passes over right," the first voice
remarked. "Here, Burt, you light it?"

There was the sharp sound of the striking of a match, and a feeble
glimmer appeared, in the darkness. It flickered and waned, as though
the wind would extinguish it, but next instant the wick of the lantern
had caught, and threw a strong yellow glare upon the scene. The light
fell upon the major and his comrades, who had sprung into the road, and
it lit up the group on the railway line. Yet it was not upon the
rescuing party that the murderers fixed their terror-stricken eyes, and
the major and his friends had lost all thought of the miscreants above
them--for there, standing in the centre of the roadway, there with the
light flickering over her pale sweet face, like a spirit from the tomb,
stood none other than the much-enduring, cruelly-treated girl for whom
Burt's murderous blow had been intended.

For a few moments she stood there without either party moving a foot or
uttering a sound. Then there came from the railway line a cry so wild
that it will ring for ever in the ears of those who heard it.
Burt dropped upon his knees and put his band over his eyes to keep out
the sight. John Girdlestone caught his son by the wrist and dashed away
into the darkness, flying wildly, madly, with white faces and staring
eyes, as men who have looked upon that which is not of this world.
In the meantime, Tom had sprung down from his perch, and had clasped
Kate in his arms, and there she lay, sobbing and laughing, with many
pretty feminine ejaculations and exclamations and questions, saved at
last from the net of death which had been closing upon her so long.

CHAPTER XLVI.

A MI