The morning of the day to come broke clear and still, with the stars
paling one by one at the pointing finger of the dawn, and the
frost-rime lying thick and white like a snowfall of erect and
glittering needles on iron and steel and wood.

Obedient to orders, the bridge-builders were getting out their
hand-car at the construction camp, the wheels shrilling merrily on the
frosted rails, and the men stamping and swinging their arms to start
the sluggish night-blood. Suddenly, like the opening gun of a battle,
the dull rumble of a mighty explosion trembled upon the still air,
followed instantly by a sound as of a passing avalanche.

Winton was out and running up the track before the camp was fairly
aroused. What he saw when he gained the hither side of the lateral
gulch was a sight to make a strong man weep. A huge landslide,
starting from the frozen placer ground high up on the western
promontory, had swept every vestige of track and embankment into the
deep bed of the creek at a point precisely opposite Mr. Somerville
Darrah's private car.




VII

THE MAJESTY OF THE LAW


Virginia was up and dressed when the sullen shock of the explosion
set the windows jarring in the Rosemary.