So the train thundered along in the darkness. It raced joyously over stretches of level track. It climbed laboriously up steep grades, the two heavy engines panting like human things at the great strain upon their powers. It rushed exultantly down long steep grades in the opposite direction. It thundered over long bridges and across short culverts. On, on, on, it sped through the darkness, and the man at the throttle still kept his hand upon the lever, and his eyes peering along the cylinder of light sweeping the rails from the headlight.
But little could he do save keep his hand upon the throttle, and his eyes and his mind upon the job. For the rest, they had to trust to the tracks, and to Providence.
The great danger this night was from
