The car in which they were was now detached and sidetracked; the long train backed slowly past and away into the darkness.
And after a while another locomotive came steaming out of the obscurity ahead; he heard them coupling it to the car in which he sat. The jar did not awaken Karen.
Presently they were in motion again; the tiled roof of an unlighted railway station glided past the window; stars appeared, trees, a high dark hill to the right.
A military guard came through the corridor, lantern in hand, and told Guild that the car was now entirely empty and at his disposal.
So he rose and went forward where he could look out ahead and see the dull glow of the smokestack and the ruddy light of the furnace.
For a long while he stood there watching the moving silhouettes of engineer and fireman. The sombre red light trembled on the rails and swept the wayside trees or painted with fiery streaks the sides of a cut or glittered along the rocky wet walls of tunnels.
When at last he went back to the compartment, Karen was sitting up, twisting her hair into shape.
"Do you feel rested?" he asked cheerfully, seating himself beside her.
"Yes, thank you. Where are we, Kervyn?"
"I don't know."