sing in violence as it went, along the
standing train, and threw him violently against the partition of the
compartment.

Meanwhile the passengers of the first train, now that the worst was
apparently over, and the faint shouts and screams from the embankment
had calmed down, began to make their way in the direction of the
sounds, and Mabel, holding Dolly fast by the hand, forced herself to
follow them, though she was sick and faint with the dread of what she
might see.

The first thing they saw was a crowd of eager, excited faces, all
questioning and accusing the badgered officials of both trains at the
same time. 'Why was an empty train left on the rails unprotected in
this way? they might have been all killed.--It was culpable negligence
all round, and there should be an inquiry--they would insist on an
inquiry--they would report this to the traffic manager,' and so on.

The faces looked pale and ghastly enough in the fog, but all the
speakers were evidently sound in wind and limb, and, as far as could
be seen, neither train had left the rails--but where was the young man
who had volunteered to recover the dog? 'Oh, Mabel,' cried Dolly,
again and again. 'Frisk is killed, I'm sure of it, or he'd come to
me--something has happened--ask, do ask.'

But Mabel dared not, for fear of hearing that a life had been nobly
and uselessly sacrificed; she could only press through the crowd with
the object of making her way to the carriage where the suspense would
be ended.

'There's someone in one of the carriages!' she heard a voice saying as
she got nearer, and her heart beat faster; and then the crowd parted
somehow, and she saw Mark Ashburn come out of it towards her, with a
dazed, scared smile on his pale face, and the little trembling dog
safe under one arm.

Fortunately for Mark, the fog-signals had been set in time to do their
work, and the second train was fitted with powerful brakes which, but
for the state of the rails, would have brought it to without any
collision at all; as it was, the shock had not been severe enough to
damage the rolling-stock to any greater extent than twisting or
straining a buffer or coupling-chain here and there, though it had
thrown him against the corner of the net-rail with sufficient violence
to slightly graze his forehead, and leave him stunned and a little
faint for a few moments.

After sitting down for a short time to recover himself, he picked up
the terrier from the cushions