"I reckon as how it were owin' to de fack dat dey struck in a bank ob
soft sand dat concussioned de fall," explained Washington.

"You mean the soft sand saved them?"

"Dat's de correctness ob it."

"I think you are right," the old man continued, as he fastened the door
securely. "The shock of the sudden stopping of the runaway train, as it
reached the end of the siding and crashed into the bank, probably threw
the lads up in the air, and they came down in the sliding sand where we
found them. Otherwise they would surely have been killed. As it is they
have had severe shocks."

"Are dey goin' to die, Perfessor?"

"I hope not, Washington, but I must see to them."

Amos Henderson went over to the bed on which the two boys were stretched
out, each with the piece of cotton soaked in the preparation over his
mouth and nose.

"I am using a very powerful remedy," the old man muttered. "If they are
not too badly hurt they will recover. Ah, yes, there is a little color
in their pale cheeks."

He bent over the boys. As he had said, Jack's face was tinged with a
light pink, and Mark's eye-lids were moving slightly.

"They are coming around all right," exclaimed the aged professor.