“Every instant I dreaded to hear the train coming. I knew it must be well-nigh time for it now, and I knew that it was on time, for we had telegraphed it an hour before.
“I will not dwell longer on my sufferings. I did not free myself. I could not if the salvation of the race had depended upon it. Nor did anybody come to free me. No one would ever pass that spot on a night like that, and at such an hour.
“Nor was the train behind time. No, I heard it at last; it was no creation of my excited fancy this time. I heard it at last, first a faint, rumbling sound, that seemed to come from deep down in the earth, beneath me; then the ground seemed to thrill and tremble; then the rails rattled a little, then more and more; then I heard the whistle and bell, and then, oh, God! another instant and it would be upon me. I could even see the reflected glare of the headlight.
“I tried once more to cry out; I struggled again for an instant, with all the power of my being, then I knew that my time was come, and I shut my eyes and lay quite still.
“And the great train came rushing on and on—it was close upon me—I saw it not, yet I felt it to be directly above me. Great heavens! what was this? Was it passing over me and I still living, and feeling it not?
“I opened my eyes; I saw the cars flashing by above and within a few feet of my head. Then the truth flashed upon me. The train was upon the other track! The reaction was too much for me, and I fainted dead away.
“When I came to consciousness again, I found myself in my own room at home.
“I had only a confused recollection of the events which had so lately befallen me, but they told me gently all that I did not know of the story.
“I had been very ill, they said, of brain fever. They had found me on the morning of that terrible night, bound fast—not to the railroad track, but to a tree, just a few rods away from it.
“I was very delirious, and was taken home raving continually.