She lightly sprang through and drew the children after her. A stifled groan, as from one straining the last muscle in some desperate effort, came from a berth. Rushing forward, still dragging the children, she found Kate pinned on her back, with the flames leaping closer each moment. The violet eyes turned pitifully on Ruth, staring wide with the set agony of speechless fear and searched her face for the verdict of life. A faint cry came from the full lips, white at the thought of death: "Help me, for God's sake; I'll be burning in a moment!" Did the dark eyes waver with an instant's hesitation as she thought of her children imperiled by the delay and of the shame this woman's life meant to her? If so, she who cried did not see it. Swiftly the lithe form sprang to the rescue. She ran her hands over Kate's magnificent figure and tore her robe loose where it was pinioned between the timbers, loosed the wealth of auburn hair caught in the snap of the folding rack of the berth, and she was free. She took Ruth's hand and kissed it impulsively. "Thank you. You are an angel." "Come, we will be burned to death if we don't get out of here in a minute," Ruth cried, excitedly. She found the berth ladder she had thrown through the window and broke the windows out on the lower side of the car, and called: "Is any one down there?" Only the roar of the water and crackling flames answered. She looked and saw a strip of ground on the bank of the river some eight feet below. They might slide down the trestle if no one could help. The black eyes flashed into the blue for a moment and the little brunette face went white. "Where is Frank?" she gasped. Kate shivered and glanced at the flames. "I don't know. He was in the berth in front of mine. I hope he is gone for help." Ruth handed her the children and leaped back to the berth. It was smashed upward and a great hole torn through the roof. She hurried back and again peered down through the broken window at the narrow strip of ground on the river's brink lit by the rising flames. And then she gave a cry of joy at the sound of a voice somewhere amid the mass beneath, "Ruth! Ruth! Is that you and the children in that car?" "Yes, Frank," came back the steady answer. "Are you hurt?" he cried, with breathless intensity. "I think not," she replied, cheerfully. "Thank God!" she heard his deep voice burst out with trembling fervour. "Have you seen Kate?" he called. "Yes; she is here." "Come, get out of there quick. You will be burned to death!" he shouted. "Hand the children to me and then swing down--I can catch you, one at a time." She held the boy's hands and dropped him in his father's arms, then swung Lucy through and saw her clasp his neck and kiss him. She helped Kate hold and swing down into his arms. And when she felt him tremble at the touch of her own petite figure her arms tightened about his neck, she kissed him and whispered: "My own dear love!"