He smote the timbers with the ax, he tore at them with his fingers, he flung his body against them.
“Inza!” he huskily shouted.
Then, almost beneath his feet, he found her!
Down on his knees he went, seeing her pale face dimly, finding her still and senseless.
“Inza, my sweetheart!” he groaned. “Merciful Heaven! is she dead? Have I lost her thus?”
He lifted her beautiful head and kissed her unresponsive lips. He whispered loving words in her ears. He pressed her to his throbbing heart and begged her to give one sign of life.
She had not been crushed beneath the timbers, but had fallen between two of the seats, which had served to protect and shield her. Still, something must have injured her severely, for she was not a girl to faint from fright.
A smell of smoke came to Frank’s nostrils, telling him of a new and frightful peril—fire!
He lifted the unconscious girl and started to escape with her. This he found a difficult thing to do, but with a sort of desperate persistency he kept at it till he had reached the spot where a smashed opening in the side of the car permitted him to crawl forth with Inza to the open air.
The spectacle he beheld was appalling. The cars and engine were piled one upon another in a shattered mass which had already taken fire.