for the sound of steam escaping from the boilers, I could hear nothing. Then I remembered that the boilers themselves were a fruitful source of danger to me, as there might be a hole knocked in the water-space that would pour out a scalding flood and boil me alive. I had heard, too, of boilers in inaccessible localities losing the water from about the furnaces, and getting the iron so hot and soft that it would give out like wet paper, blowing up and scalding any unfortunate who might be imprisoned near it. I knew, too, that wrecks had a way of taking fire from the locomotive. These thoughts occurred to me much more rapidly than I could tell them, and spurred me on to do my utmost to get out of there.
It was perfectly dark where I was, and, as I knew, it was still daylight outside. This proved to me how completely I was buried under the wreck, and was far from reassuring. How could I ever hope to make my way from under those tons of cars and engines? The only wonder was that I had escaped being killed instantly, and for a few minutes I felt but little gratitude at having been spared, only to be slowly tortured to death.
When I attempted to move I found that as far as sensation was concerned my right leg ended at the knee; so I felt down to see if it was cut off, as I knew it would be necessary to stanch the flow of blood in that case, or I would soon die from that cause alone. To my great joy I found that my leg and foot were still with me, though how badly hurt I was unable to tell; for being drenched with water, the blood might, for all I knew, be flowing from many severe wounds.
At this moment there was another crash and grinding and splintering overhead, caused by the wrecking of the gravel train, but which I attributed to the explosion of one of the boilers. In this second wreck two men were killed outright, and the engineer died of his injuries the next day; yet to it, I have no doubt, I owe my escape, for it disturbed the position of the cars, so that I perceived a ray of daylight, away, as it seemed, half a mile ahead of me. I exerted myself to the utmost to reach it, and how far off it was! I had to work my way back under the wrecked tender and several cars. I found the space under the tender piled so full of coal that it was impossible to pass, yet that was my only way out; so I began digging with my hands, feverishly, madly, in the desire to get away while I still had my senses and strength, and oh, how I wished then I had never gone railroading!
After digging, as it seemed for hours, until my hands were raw and bleeding and I had blocked my retreat by the coal I had thrown behind me, I found myself confronted by the axle of the rear truck, which stood at such an angle as to positively forbid all hope of my ever getting out that way.
PENNED UNDER A BURNING WRECK.
I sank down in despair, realizing that my time had now come, and here in this dark close hole was to be the end of me. I tried to fix my mind on such thoughts as I knew were appropriate to the occasion, but my leg was so painful that I could think of nothing else. Then a numbness came over me, and I seemed to be falling into a kind of stupor, broken frequently by the twinges of pain from my leg, when my nostrils were greeted by a faint odor of wood smoke, and my heart was thrilled with a new terror that urged me to make one more desperate effort to escape. The wreck was on fire, and though I might have resigned myself to lie still and die, I could not endure the thought of being roasted alive; so again made desperate by great fear, I dug my bleeding hands into the coal, and commenced to burrow like a woodchuck in the direction where I could see that the truck was elevated highest above the rail, and to my great joy I soon found that the coal pile extended but a short distance in that direction.
It wasn't long before I had crawled under the truck, which had been raised from the ground by the corner of a car, and was making fairly good progress among the tangle of wheels, axles, and brake-gear, in the direction of the ray of light which had first attracted my attention. I found it came down by a very small, crooked, and much-obstructed passage through the debris of broken cars above my head—a passage entirely too small for me to get through and which I could never hope to enlarge myself. The smoke was now suffocating, and it was only at longer and longer intervals that I could catch my breath. I had not as yet felt the heat of the fire; but when I looked up through the narrow opening above me, I could see, in the flying clouds of smoke, sparks and small firebrands, which told me that the wind was blowing in my direction, which induced me to make the most frantic efforts to escape. I might as well have
