"It didn' take us long to haul the whole lot out and ashore; and, as Providence would have it, not a bone broken in the party. One or two were sufferin' from sprains, and all of 'em from shock (but so were we, for that matter), and between 'em they must ha' swallowed a bra' few pints o' water, an' muddy water at that. I can't tell ezackly when or how we discovered they was all blind, or near-upon blind. It may ha' been from the unhandiness of their movements an' the way they clutched at us an' at one another as we pulled 'em ashore. Hows'ever, blind they were; an' I don't remember that it struck us as anyways singular, after what we'd been through a'ready. We fished out a concertina, too, an' a silver-mounted flute that was bobbin' among the weeds. "The man the concertina belonged to--a tall fresh-complexioned young fella he was, an' very mild of manner--turned out to be a sort o' leader o' the party; an' he was the first to talk any sense. 'Th-thank you,' he said. 'They told us Penzance was the next stop.' "'Hey?' says I. "'They told us,' he says again, plaintive-like, feelin' for his spectacles an' not finding 'em, 'that Penzance was the next stop.' "'Bound for Penzance, was you?' I asks. "'For the Land's End,' says he, his teeth chatterin'. I set it down the man had a stammer, but 'twas only the shock an' the chill of his duckin'. "'Well,' says I, 'this ain't the Land's End, though I dessay it feels a bit like it. Then you wasn' _thrown_ out?' I says. "'Th-thrown out?' says he. 'N-no. They told us Penzance was the next stop.' "'Then,' says I, 'if you got out accidental you've had a most providential escape, an' me an' my mates don't deserve less than to hear about it. There's bound to be inquiries after you when the guard finds your compartment empty an' the door open. May be the train'll put back; more likely they'll send a search-party; but anyways you're all wet through, an' the best thing for health is to off wi' your clothes an' dry 'em, this warm afternoon.' "'I dessay,' says he, 'you'll have noticed that our eyesight is affected.' "'All the better if you're anyways modest,' says I. 'You couldn' find a retirededer place than this--not if you searched: an' _we_ don't mind.'