Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1915-06-03
Continued.

the little smoking room in which he sat
was the uppermost portion of it. And
all at once he realized that at its
other extremity was the drawing
room, into which the only other pas
senger had so closely closed herself.
For all he knew, since it was evident
that the train had gone ether through
or off bridge into the water, that the
drawng-room was submerged, and
the young lady had been drowned in
her trap. The urgency of the situa-
ton spurred him to immediate action.
With the sickening pain in his should
er halfsuppressed by clinched teeth
and supreme effort of will, he sue
ceeded in climbing through the door
way, with it's hampering curtain, and
thus gaining the narrow passage,
down which he allowed himself to
slide until his feet bumped against
the aisle, he let himself down slowly,
foot by foot, checking too rapid pro-
gress by gripping the sides and cur
tains of the berths with the hand of
the uninjured arm.
In this wise he came at length, not
to water, as he had momentarily eX-
pected, but to the drawing-room's
closed door. Upon this, so perpen-
dicularly was the car standing or
hanging-he did not know which-he
might have stood upright. AS it was,
1a x,,D,.lyaI hiya off IN n lnaa1rno
tion in the angle, knocked sharply,
and called loudly. Then he listened
with straining ears, to which there
came no voice, but startlingly, unmis-
takably, the sound of tapping waters,
just beneath him.
With feverish haste he groped for
the doorknob; found it, turned it, and
with some relief discovered the door
was not jammed, as he feared it might
be. On the contrary, it opened cas-
lily, escaped his clutch, swung inward,
downward, with an echoing crash.
And still there was no animate re-
sponse.
In some agitation, Gouverneur, ex-
pecting a spectacle of death to con-
front him, struck to flame his last
match. In the scant space between
berth and sofa, huddled, motionless,
silent, lay slim, sombre-clad figure
with face downward and hidden.
Crippled as he was, hampered by
the dark and the half-reversed posi-
tion of the car, it was no easy matter
to give assistance. But fortune, in a
way, aided him. The door to the
wash-room, against which the young
woman lay, was wedged as fast as
though locked, and upon this, after a
little, he succeeded in placing her,
with Strengthened limbs, and a pillow
beneath her head; for, to his encour-
agement, her heart still beat, and so
far as he could discover she bore no
mark of injury. For water he was
compelled to climb laborious]y back
to the smoking room. But no sooner
had he begun t lave her brow, than
faint moan, indicative of returning
consciousness rewarded him.
Anothre moment, and her whole
body seemed to CULVER; and at the
next she sprang to sitting posture,
with shrill cry of terror. Gouve-
neur laid hand softly, reassuring-
ly, on her shoulder.
"Don't-don't be alarmed" he
soothed. "The danger, now, is quite
over"
"Thank goodness,I have broken no
bones," she assured him; nothing
worse than few bruises" And
stoically he hid his suspicion that his
own right shoulder was dislocated.
Stoically too he forbore he telling her,
upon his return, that the danger he
had pronounced "over," was still very
present and real. So far as he could
discover, the car in which they were
prisoners was maintaining its posi-
tion solely by grace of bent and
treacherous coupling at one end, and
the unstable support of nine-tenths
submerged sister sleeper at the other.
At any moment either of these might
give way and precipiate them into
the flood which eddied around the for
ward platform. In word, they were
hanging to the car behind them, the
fore trucks of which were mid-air
over the bridge-side, at an angle of
less than hundred degrees: hang
ing there by hair.
What he did tell her, however, was
this: "We've slipped off bridge
that crosses the Patuxent River, and
are so supported that they can't very
well get at us from above. But they
know we're here, and boats are al
ready on the way to our rescue. ]
could see their lights; but the wind
and tide are against them, and it's
still pouring rain: so it NAV still be