Karl gingerly descended to the ground and looked around. His arm was beginning to throb. He cradled it with his right hand. He thought he knew every foot of the line, but he didn't remember a pond on this section. The passenger cars had come to rest leaning in opposite directions, but still on their wheels. They were headed downhill, with their wheels resting on opposite sides of a small ravine. The first car had struck a pile of coal, which accounted for the sudden stop. The coal had no business being piled there. Karl stepped around the pile and the reason for its existence became evident. The tender had struck a large stump and flipped over, dumping the coal in its flight. The tender was twisted around a large tree, upside down, about fifty feet further down the ravine. By some fluke, the engine had missed the stump and the large trees on both sides of the ravine and simply continued down the ravine, to settle in a large pond. It was wreathed in a cloud of steam. Karl started to head toward the engine to check on the crew but then remember seeing them bail out. They were lucky! Bailing out had kept them from being scalded to death. Karl started to turn, still wondering where they were, when a voice behind him caused him to jump. The arm reminded him forcefully that it needed attention soon.
"Do you know what happened?" Gunther yelled. "The rails gave way! When we started riding on the ties, Hans and I jumped." Suddenly, the cloud of steam seemed to register with him. His eyes went wide and he started to stammer, " O-otherwise we'd have been cooked alive!" Gunther pointed toward the engine. "My poor Annalise. What has happened to you?"
It took Karl a moment to understand who Gunther was talking about. Gunther had a name for his engine! Even more astonishing was that the shock of the accident had finally loosened his tongue and he had said more than five words at the same time! Karl grabbed Gunther with his good hand and pulled him back toward the ravine to help check further on the passengers. "Come on. They'll get her out all right. She's just in some water. Help me get this arm splinted and then we can see about getting a message out to get help." Gunther kept looking back over his shoulder as they climbed onto the nearest platform.
Karl looked around again to try and get his bearings. "Do you recognize where we are? I don't remember any pond on this section. I thought we were about ten miles from Jena."
Gunther nodded. "We are ten miles out. This pond is new."
Karl fumbled for the key to the mail room. He finally stuck out his hip for Gunther to reach into his left coat pocket for the key. "Help me get the telegraph rod and key rigged up so I can send a message for help." Gunther found the key and opened the door. He got the emergency telegraph key and the long rod to tap into the wire. Once Gunther hooked the pole end over the telegraph wire and attached the key, Karl sent the message calling for help and gave their approximate position. Both Grantville and Jena acknowledged and said help was on the way.
"Oh . . ." Karl was seeing spots before his eyes. Then nothing.
****
"Karl? Karl?" A soft patting on his cheek.
"Wh . . ." Karl opened his eyes.
Gunther stopped patting his cheek. "You're awake. Good." Then he began to give Karl a report. "Besides your broken arm, there are two broken ankles and numerous cuts and bruises."
Karl looked around. Someone had removed a pair of seat bottoms and Lynn was resting on them, with a makeshift bandage around the cut on her head. The grandmother was sitting beside her. Karl struggled to his feet, then walked over. "Do you need anything?"
Lynn looked up, but the grandmother remarked, "Young man, I do believe your estimate on our arrival time may be a little off!" Laughing at her attempt at humor she then pointed toward Lynn. "She should be fine."
Lynn's eyes opened and immediately fixed on him. A good sign, according to what doctors said. She looked over his injury and then asked, "Is it true you broke your arm saving me from landing on the hot stove?"
The question was totally unexpected. Karl was still a little woozy and had to pause and reconstruct what had happened. It had all happened so fast. He hadn't been thinking, just reacting. When he realized what might have happened if he hadn't caught Lynn, he almost fainted again. He managed to mumble, "I suppose so. I was just doing my duty." He quickly realized how unfeeling that sounded. "I mean, I'm glad you're safe. Everything happened so fast, I couldn't let someone as nice as you get hurt if there was any way I could help it." He started to blush and quickly left before Lynn could see it. He missed the smile that lit up her face.
With a sense of duty pushing him, Karl walked around the wreck assessing the damage in detail. His arm was throbbing with every step but he pushed on. Both cars appeared to be in remarkably good condition. The coupler was missing on the first car, but there was no damage to either car's frame. With a little work, they should be running again soon. The same could not be said for the rest of the train. The tender was smashed and twisted and only the wheels looked like they could be salvaged. The engine, what could still be seen, appeared to be undamaged. The problem was that it was slowly sinking into the pond. With the soft ground in the area, that was going to be a nightmare trying to raise. The large, old growth trees might cause a problem with access to the site.
Gunther and Hans approached with worried looks on their faces. "Come with us, we need to show you something."
They started back down the track, past the wreck. When they reached the start of the damage, Gunther pointed to the ties. "Do you see it?"
Karl stared but didn't understand what Gunther was pointing at. "I don't see a thing!"
"Exactly!" Gunther pointed to a long stretch of ties with wheel marks gouged in them. "There are only a few spikes on the outside edge where the rail was. They weren't pulled out by the rail; they're just gone! Someone's taken the spikes! The track crew wouldn't notice because they don't see the outside of the rail as easily on the curve when they're riding the hand car."
Hans held up a spike bar that he had found nearby. "It looks like someone used our own tools for the job!"
Karl realized that he was in over his head and needed help. Just then, a familiar 'Aaahooogah' sounded from the direction of Grantville. Help had arrived.
****
Hugh Lowe sat in his office, rereading for the fifth time a copy of the terse telegram that had notified the railroad of the wreck. No doubt by now, word was spreading like wildfire, since the telegraph message had been sent in both directions in the clear. A commotion in the outer office broke in on his thoughts. His secretary discreetly knocked on the door and then entered. "Mr. Lowe, a messenger just arrived from the radio station. He says that a government official from Magdeburg is trying to reach you and they say it's extremely urgent he speaks with you."
"Tell him I'll be right over." He looked once more at the message, still trying to decide whether it was a harbinger of more sinister problems. With a sigh, he folded it and shoved it in his pocket, and then headed for the radio station.
Brendan Murphy, from the Secretary of Transportation's office, was still holding for him when Hugh arrived. The operator showed him how to work the equipment and then stepped out to give him some privacy. Sterling immediately asked, "Was it a raid, Hugh? As soon as word of the wreck reached us, our first thoughts were another raiding party, what with all the war rumors flying about."