There was a moment's silence. Some looked apprehensively out of the windows at the flying landscape; one or two tried the door, then someone said nonchalantly:
"All right, Mr. Trevelyan, you have delivered an important statement, but I was disappointed you did not end it with the remark that the Governor of North Carolina made to the Governor of South Carolina."
"Ah, really!" said Trevelyan, puzzled. "And what did he say?"
There was a general laugh at Trevelyan's ignorance and bewilderment, but the negro waiters understood the allusion and passed the drinks. Suddenly the train gave a little shudder, and, in spite of themselves, several men turned pale, but were relieved by seeing through the windows that the speed was lessening. Then they heard the crunch of the air-brake, and finally the train came to a standstill.
"My friend Mackeller," spoke up Trevelyan, "arranged the apparatus so that the two locomotives should stop at a distance of three hundred and twenty-five feet from each other. We will now learn how close or how far out his calculation has been."
The conductors at each end unlocked and threw open the doors, calling humorously and stentoriously, "All change!" The guests poured out into the open country, and there, grim before them,
