Amos cried out, falling painfully against the furnace door, whacking his shoulder and knee. He slumped to the floor of the cab complaining loudly. Carl jammed his wrist against the throttle lever, luckily pushing it to a stop position, and banged his head against his side window.

"What the hell was that?" He yelled, turning and staring out back down the side of the cars. The engine was on solid ground along with most of what he could see of the rest of the cars but something was blocking the rails.

"I think my leg's broke, Carl." Amos tried to pull himself upright and groaned aloud as knives sliced through his knee. "For sure somethin's wrong."

"More than your knee, Amos. Somethin's jammed on the rails somewhere." Carl massaged his wrist and climbed down off his seat, helping Amos to get his weight off his leg. "Sit tight, I gotta go back and see what's up." He set the train's brake and climbed down to the sopping, slippery ground and holding onto the sides of the cars, made his way back to the bridge. Wind and rain assailed him as he stooped to peer at what had caused the train to jerk to a stop. He lowered himself to one knee and with his gloved hand shielding his eyes Carl saw the last thing in the world he wanted to see.

The last car, the sleeper, was still on the trestle by about a third of its length. A large section of the bridge support that had broken off in the wind was jammed in front of the rear wheel assembly and caught between two struts at the side of the bridge.

He took a deep breath and crept cautiously out onto the wooden struts until he was able to reach the jam and kicking as hard as he could while holding on tight to the side of the car, he saw the beam give... but only slightly. A gust of wind nearly tore his grip loose and he hugged the car for dear life, closing his eyes against the stinging rain.

He knew he couldn't free the beam by himself and he wasn't sure what might happen if he did. The supports under the track seemed to have sagged from the accident, causing him great concern. If they couldn't free the car they would have to unhook it and leave it behind, a hazard to be dealt with on the return run—maybe.

Carl made his way to the front of the car and climbed aboard, sliding the door and ducking inside out of the fierce weather. The first thing he saw was Ryan, on the floor, surrounded by three women and Jonas in the background. They looked up and all started jabbering at once. Carl waved them quiet and knelt down to look at the Marshal.

"What happened?"

Jean Bellows explained that when the train stopped suddenly they heard the crash outside in the corridor and when they came out, Penny was just bending down to the Marshal. She hunkered aside as Ryan began to mumble and struggle to sit up.

"He fell right up against my door." Penny stood and stepped back out of the way.

"You okay, Marshal?" Carl helped him sit up and lean against the side of the car.

"What happened? Did we hit something?" Ryan rubbed his head and, with further help, got to his feet.

Jean handed him his hat along with a sly smile. "We don't usually have good looking men falling at our feet like that, Marshal."

Penny coughed politely and slipped back into her room while Hannah sighed disgustedly at her sister's behaviour. She closed the door and slipped the bolt then stumbled into the lavatory. Her syringe had fallen into the sink and she picked it out, checking the contents then bracing herself on the doorframe she injected the dose and began to cry. The sudden arrival of the man in her room had startled her.

She was just wakening and had begun to sit up when he burst in. Before she could say a word, he grabbed her arm and clamped a rough hand over her mouth, forcing her back on the bunk. She kicked and struggled fiercely, managing to slam his head against the side wall and knock his hand away from her mouth. When she pushed him off and sat up she saw that it was the husband of the woman in the next compartment and she banged loudly on the wall hoping to alert her.

Seth growled angrily and grabbed her by the waist, holding her upright against the compartment wall while he fumbled with his pants. She shook free again and raised a knee between his legs forcing a painful grunt as he sagged back down on the bunk. Quickly she slipped into the lavatory, slammed the door and bolted it shut, breathing noisily and trying to hear what he was doing.

When she finally felt safe enough to come out, she hurriedly dressed and checked her face in the mirror, suddenly finding it very strange that her drug had not taken effect. Before she could think on it any longer there was another bang on her door and a crash in the corridor and she froze, hoping it wasn't her assailant again.

Ignoring Jean's comment, Ryan looked to Carl for an explanation just as Harriet Dingwall emerged from their room. With a few frustrating minutes of explanation, Harriet peered at Carl and asked who was driving the train.

"Train's stopped ma'am. Won't be movin' unless we can get it free of the jam either." Carl slapped his head. "Jeez! Amos! Amos has a broke leg I think. We gotta get him down here and have the Doc look at him. You okay to carry on, son?"

Ryan nodded and made a nasty face. Why now? Why him? Suddenly he realized that he had better check again on his men and his prisoner. "Get the doc up to the dining car and get some of these others to help with Amos, I gotta check on Devlin. I'll join you up there."

Until Peter Soughton realized that the train wasn't moving, he refused to leave his bunk. Carl turned to Jean who had come to the compartment door with him and gave her a helpless look. Jean patted him on the back and promised to have the doctor in the dining car and ready to help. Carl cursed and went on to the Dingwalls. Harriet held up a hand and said that Seth Dingwall was too drunk to be of any assistance and with another ungentlemanly curse; Carl stomped down the car and out. Deke and Stanley and Jonas would be help enough.