The first shock came near to throwing me off my poise, but after that I gained the whip hand of my wits by swift and sure degrees. I verily believe the professor would have been strangled by Meigs, aided and abetted by Popham and Markham, had I not rushed to his rescue. I had muscles of iron, and after I had caught Meigs by the nape of the neck and thrown him backward, I planted myself between Quinn and his foes. "Leave the professor alone," said I. "You men show mighty poor judgment, it strikes me, in trying to lay violent hands on him." "He deserves death," babbled Meigs. "He had no business shooting us into space in this summary manner." Fear and anger had made Meigs childish. He measured our dilemma in terms so common a smile came to my lips. "Judgment, poor judgment!" sniffed Popham. "Look at Gilhooly, and then talk about poor judgment, if you can." In truth, the railway magnate presented a sorry spectacle. His clothing was in wild disorder, his hair was rumpled about his head, and he was hopping back and forth with two fingers in the air. He was under the impression that he was dealing in railroad stocks, completing the huge transaction that had made him the talk of two continents. "This professor ought to be flayed alive," declared Markham. "Where are we going, and when will we get there?" "Now," said I. "you are striking the keynote. Who knows where we are going if the professor doesn’t? And who knows when we shall arrive there if it is out of his power to tell? We need the professor, for if we are to be saved it will be his knowledge that does it." "But what will my family think?" whimpered Meigs. "And my business interests!" He threw up his hands and fell back in his seat with a groan. Then abruptly he straightened up again. "This is a dream! By gad, it must be! The whole affair is too outrageously unreal for any sane man to believe." Gilhooly gave a maudlin chuckle. "I was dead sure I’d get that last block of X.Y.&Z. stock! That road is the last span in my network of ties and rails. Ha! _Now_ we’ll see! _Now!_" Meigs shivered. Gilhooly’s maunderings struck sharply at his desire to coddle himself with a myth. "It’s awful to have Gilhooly like that," spoke up Augustus Popham. "If he had not been thrown out of balance, his wide knowledge of matters relating to transportation might have proved of inestimable service to us now." Professor Quinn laughed. It was an eerie laugh, and it shook me to hear it. "Oh, you!" cried Markham reproachfully, whirling on Quinn. "After causing this disaster and overthrowing as brilliant a mind as there ever was in Wall Street, you have the heart to indulge in levity. Look here: how far are we from the earth at the present moment?"