"And my friend here, Doctor Brown, will have a bigger one for his
advice."
"He's joking you, my lad," said the other gentleman smiling. "I see you
are not hurt."
"No, sir," I said; "I--"
The trembling came over me again, and I could not speak for a minute or
two, but sat gazing helplessly from one to the other.
"Give him a drop of brandy," said the big bluff man.
"No, let him be for a few minutes; he's mastering it," was the reply.
This did me good, and making an effort I said quickly:
"A man in the carriage tried to rob me, and I got on to the foot-board
and came along here."
"Then you did what I dare not have done," said the one who dragged me
in. "But a pretty state of affairs this. On the railway, and no means
of communicating."
"But there are means."
"Tchah! How was the poor lad to make use of them? Well, we shall have
the scoundrel, unless he gets out of the train and jumps for it. We
must look out when we stop for taking the tickets. We shall not halt
before."
By degrees I grew quite composed, and told them all.
"Yes," said my big friend, "it was very brave of you; but I think I
should have parted with all I had sooner than have run such a risk."
"If it had been your own," said the other gentleman. "In this case it
seems to me the boy would have been robbed, and probably thrown out
afterwards upon the line. I think you did quite right, my lad, but I
should not recommend the practice to anyone else."
They chatted to me pleasantly enough till the train began at last to
slacken speed preparatory to stopping for the tickets to be taken, and
at the first symptom of this my two new friends jumped up and let down
the windows, each leaning out so as to command a view of the back of the
train.
I should have liked to look back as well, but that was impossible, so I
had to be content to sit and listen; but I was not kept long in
suspense, for all at once the quieter and more gentlemanly of my
companions exclaimed:
"I thought as much. He has just jumped off, and run down the
embankment. There he goes!"
I ran to the side, and caught a glimpse of a figure melting away into
the darkness. Then it was gone.
"There goes all chance of punishing the scoundrel," said the big bluff
man, turning to me and smiling good-temperedly. "I should have liked to
catch him, but I couldn't afford to risk my neck in your service, young
man."
I thanked him as well as I could, and made up my mind that if my father
was waiting on the platform he should make a more satisfactory
recognition of the services that had been performed.
This did not, however, prove so easy as I had hoped, for in the
confusion of trying to bring them together when I found my father
waiting, I reached the spot where I had left my travelling-companions
just in time to see them drive off in a cab.