ream as he fell back into the
fire!"

A locomotive drawing flat-cars loaded with people from a near-by town
had stopped just beyond the sleeping-cars, and the crowd sprang down and
gathered on the brink of the ravine up the side of which remains of the
trestle hung, slowly burning.

"Come," John said to Dora. "I'll get our things out of the car, and then
we'll get a place to spend the night. I'm sure we'll not get away till
morning. I saw a hotel down the track as we came along."

He left her and returned in a moment with the valises. Then they went
back along the railway to a crossing where stood a hotel of the very
crudest rural type. Going into the office, he secured a room for Dora;
but could get none for himself. Returning to her, he said:

"We'll have supper pretty soon. Go to your room and wash the dust off
your face and hands. You are a sight to behold."

She followed an attendant up the single flight of stairs, though it
looked as if she were averse to being separated from John even for so
short a while. Indeed, she was wondering if he did not intend to
undertake something else in which danger was involved. However, he did
not keep her waiting long. He came up to her room. He had washed his
face and hands in the barber shop, and had had his clothing and shoes
brushed. He led her down to the dining-room. It was packed with
passengers from the remaining coaches of the train who were bent on
getting something to eat, and as for the adjoining office, it was
literally jammed by an ever-growing throng of curious and horrified
spectators, who were arriving by train, by private conveyance, and on
foot from all directions.

They had secured seats at a table and given their order when an excited
man of middle age, without hat or coat on, rushed up to John, holding
out his hand.

"They tell me you are the man who saved my wife!" he cried. "My God!
sir, I want--"

"Not me." John smiled blandly. "Must have been some other chap."

"Oh, I beg your pardon," the man said, slightly taken aback. "I see I am
mistaken."

He disappeared in the office and Dora looked up at John inquiringly.
"Didn't you say back there that you got a woman out of--"

"'Sh!" John said, glancing furtively at the adjoining table and lowering
his voice to a whisper. "Yes, I said so, but we have to be careful. That
man would have wanted my name and address and I don't know what else.
You see, kid, you and I are trying to cover our tracks. If w