e express would
come racing down through the twilight and scoop him into eternity. So he
toiled on, dazed, stupefied, fighting for life, surrounded by the dead.

Presently above the singing of the wheels he heard a low sound, like a
single, smothered cough of a yard engine suddenly reversed. Now he had
the feeling of a man flooded with ice-water, so chilled was his blood.
Turning his head to learn the cause of delay (he had fancied the pilot
of an engine under his car), he saw Burke, one of the dead men, leap up
and glare into his face. That was too much for Lucien, weak as he was,
and twisting slightly, he sank to the floor of the car.

Slowly Burke's wandering reason returned. Seeing Shea at his feet,
bloodless and apparently unhurt, he kicked him, gently at first, and
then harder, and Shea stood up. Mechanically the waking man took his
place by Burke's side and began pumping, Lucien lying limp between them.
Kelly, they reasoned, must have been dead some time, by the way he was
pillowed.

When Shea was reasonably sure that he was alive, he looked at his mate.

"Phat way ar're ye feelin'?" asked Burke.

"Purty good fur a corpse. How's yourself?"

"Oh, so-so!"

"Th' Lord is good to the Irish."

"But luck ut poor Kelly."

"'Tis too bad," said Shea, "an' him dyin' a Republican."

"'Tis the way a man lives he must die."

"Yes," said Shea, thoughtfully, "thim that lives be the sword must go be
the board."

When they had pumped on silently for awhile, Shea asked, "How did ye
load thim, Burke?"

"Why--I--I suppose I lifted them aboard. I had no derrick."

"Did ye lift me, Burke?"

"I'm damned if I know, Shea," said Burke, staring ahead, for Kelly had
moved. "Keep her goin'," he added, and then he bent over the prostrate
foreman. He lifted Kelly's head, and the eyes opened. He raised the head
a little higher, and Kelly saw the blood upon his beard, on his coat, on
his hands.

"Are yez hurted, Kelly?" he asked.

"Hurted! Man, I'm dyin'. Can't you see me heart's blood ebbin' over me?"
And then Burke, crossing himself, laid the wounded head gently down
again.

By this time they were nearing their destination. Burke, seeing Lucien
beyond human aid, took hold again and helped pump, hoping to reach
Charlevoix in time to secure medical aid, or a priest at least, for
Kelly.

When the hand-car stopped in front of the station at Charlevoix, the
employees watching, and the prospective passengers waiting, for the