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"That’s h the crowd "You can’t stop the train! We’ll all freeze to death out here, or those filthy Rebels will co forward into a trap!" the conductor cried right back at her "I’ve given the order to throw the brakes, and preparations are being made in every car I’ve told the porters to ready themselves--"

"Every car?" Mercy asked

"Yes--there’s a brake on every car There has to be We can’t stop otherwise," he explained hastily

The ranger stepped up to join the conversation and said, "Two miles, is that what you said? Can we stop this snake in that kind of ti to try," as he spun on his heels and went barging back toward the Dreadnought, assu the cars that were left

"Everybody’s going to have to brace," the captain said "Find a spot and settle down Help the felloho are hurt Soer, will you do it? Head to that next car and tell theave hiood as a salute, and went for the rearward door He was scarcely on the other side of it when the slon began--not in a jerk or a lurch, but with a drop in speed that rasp instinctively for so solid

A shout went up fro of the whistle--not a full-​blown blast, but a series of short peeps that reat squeal screa the cars as the brakes were applied, and leaned on, and struggled against, and the great, terrible, foreshortened and battered train began to grind to a ghastly, troubling stop that could not possibly coh

Whatever luggage had thus far ree bins fell in a patter that bounced off heads, backs, and shoulders People squawked; Mrs Butterfield wailed Mercy staggered and tried to grab the edge of a sleeper car wall in order to steady herself, but she failed and fell backwards The captain caught her and pulled her down into the aisle, where bits of glass were still sparkling, sliding, collapsing into dust beneath boots and shoes, and cutting into hands, forear anyainstfor traction She could only spit out her question in a choked gasp, but his head was close to hers, so he could hear her anyway "What will happen, e stop? Can we back up, and go the e came?"

He shook his head, and his wind-​tousled hair brushed up against her ear "I don’t know, Mrs Lynch I don’t know much about trains"

After another series of notes from the whistle, the brakes were tested yet further, jae on poles and posts They prayed for the immense machine to slon, end the push, and stop the forward clawing; and the Dreadnought responded

Sluggish and huge and heavy, it weighed the coht like a tiger to keep it rolling along the snow-​dusted tracks

But down, and down, and down dropped the speed Down, but not enough

Mercy cla at the captain, at the seats, at the frah to see that the end of the pass--the iht upon the to slip right inside it--right into darkness; right into a stretch that was surely a trap

And there was nothing to be done about it

Nineteen

The tunnel gaped and yawned, and devoured the great train slowly--increht was not reat deterainst the frantic thrusts of the brakes; the squealing ofmechanisms retreated until it was a dull whine that echoed in the darkness And this darkness slipped over the train with the sharp, de As if the tunnel were a toht s voices within the passenger cars

This tunnel, and this darkness, ate the length of the train froer car, which was now the last car

And when the whole strand was as black as the bottom of a well, every breath was held and every heart was perched on the verge of stopping

They waited

All of the froliht or information All of them sat in hushed and worried poses

Everyone waited, wondering how the end was going to come

All backs and arms and fists were clenched, ready for the explosion that would bring the tunnel down atop them, or the dynamite blast beyond the tunnel that would mark the end of their tracks

But it never came