d that it was very cold in his berth--also that the train,
which was standing still, had been in that motionless condition for
some time. He threw up the window curtain as he appreciated that and,
looking out, found that he faced a great unbroken bank of glistening
white snow as high as the top of the car at this point and rising even
higher ahead. He listened, therefore, while the Englishman--for the
voice calling to the porter was his--extracted all available
information from the negro.

"Porter!" Standish called again.

"Yessuh!"

"Close my window and be quick about it!"

"It's closed, suh."

"Closed?"

"Yessuh; I shut it en-durin' the night."

"Closed!" the voice behind the curtains iterated skeptically; there was
a pause during which, probably, there was limited exploration. "I say,
then, how cold is it outside?"

"Ten below this morning, suh."

"What, what? Where are we?"

"Between Fracroft and Simons, suh."

"Yet?"

"Yessuh, yit!"

"Hasn't your silly train moved since four o'clock?"

"Moved? No, suh. Not mo'n a yahd or two nohow, suh, and I reckon we
backed them up again."

"That foolish snow still?"

"Yessuh; and snow some more, suh."

"But haven't we the plow still ahead?"

"Oh, yessuh; the plow's ahaid. We still got it; but that's all, suh.
It ain't doin' much; it's busted."

"Eh--what?"

"Yessuh--busted! There was right smart of a slide across the track,
and the crew, I understands, diagnosed it jus' fo' a snowbank and done
bucked right into it. But they was rock in this, suh; we's layin'
right below a hill; and that rock jus' busted that rotary like a
Belgium shell hit it. Yessuh--pieces of that rotary essentially
scattered themselves in four directions besides backwards and fo'wards.
We ain't done much travelin' since then."

"Ah! But the restaurant car's still attached?"

"De restaur--oh, yessuh. We carries the diner through--from the Coast
to Chicago."

"H'm! Ten below! Porter, is that wash-compartment hot? And are they
serving breakfast yet?"

"Yessuh; yessuh!"

The Briton, from behind his curtains, continued; but Eaton no longer
paid attention.

"Snowed in and stopped since four!" The realization startled him with
the necessity of taking it into account in his plans. He jerked
himself up in his berth and began pulling his clothes down from the
hooks; then, as abruptly, he stopped dressing and sat absorbed in
thought. Finally he parted the curtains