railroadin'."

Suddenly there was a creaking, a cracking, and then a series of awful
jolts. Window glass broke and flew in every direction. Like a mighty
monster that had suddenly been frightened by an unseen foe, the train
lurched forward, tipped a little, and slowly came to an uncertain stop.
People were hurled from their seats with a great violence as the
emergency brake was set. A baby cried out from a seat near the front of
the car, and a woman screamed as a satchel from the luggage rack above
her head dropped down upon her. Willis Thornton raised his arms above his
head just in time to save a heavy leather suitcase from striking his
mother full in the face. Through the broken windows was heard the shrill
warning notes of the engine's trouble whistle, but so intense was the
storm that the sound seemed rather a part of the raging gale. The
brakeman rushed through the car, and as he passed Willis heard him
exclaim half-aloud, "The freight!" Then in a loud, shaky voice, not meant
to betray excitement, he shouted, "All out; train off the track!"

He need not have spoken, however, for the people who had not already
gotten out were close upon him. First in the rush was the mother of the
babe that had screamed when the first jolts came. She was wild-eyed and
hysterical. A piece of flying glass had struck her on the face, and the
warm, trickling blood had frightened her. She rushed up to the nearest
man and shouted, "Is my husband safe?" Just then a sickly, dudish little
man, with a lighted cigar in his mouth, rushed toward her.

"Ba Jove, my dear, you are 'urt," he said as she hurried toward him and
fainted in his arms.

The word had been passed around that a heavy freight was expected at any