Harriet slid down on her seat behind the others, hoping they wouldn't mention her husband. The best thing that could happen, she thought, was if they uncoupled the car and left him behind. It would make her plans a lot easier.

"We all have things we need in our rooms," Penny said with alarm, garnering support from the others as Jonas set his frame in the doorway and looked at them benignly.

"Marshal's orders."

"What about those drinks?" Abner complained. "If we have to sit here not knowing our fate I think we should at least be able to have a drink."

"I think we should be more concerned about who's missing than having drinks, Mister Wentworth." Jean barked, turning back to Jonas and looking for support.

Jonas rubbed his chin and set his jaw. "You folks promise to sit tight, I'll go back and check the compartments but I ain't lookin' for personals. If the Marshal catches me back there I could be in big trouble so..."

"We promise, Mister Howe," Cybil said, joining Jean in the aisle to block the exit.

"Okay. I'll be just a minute so sit tight." Jonas slid open the door and hopped across the platform to the sleeping car.

Deke looked up in surprise. "What are you doin'? We're about to try movin' the train."

"There's some folks missin' and they might still be in here," Jonas said as he slid open the door and entered the sleeping car.

"Hey!" Deke jigged around on the platform, uncertain what to do and then he leaned out and hollered at the Marshal but Ryan was up by the bridge and the storm just shredded his words and carried them off in the driving rain.

Jonas went through the car opening and closing doors and as he reached the middle of the car it lurched forward and stumbled toward the back, grabbing at the window frames to keep from falling. There was a loud grinding noise and he could here faint shouting outside and then the car began to tilt sideways very slowly. He knew what was happening and he hurried back to the front as fast as he could, sliding the door open and jerking to a halt as he saw the car tilt up and a shocked Deke, mouth hanging open and arms waving at the coupling pin.

The bridge was obviously collapsing under the car and with a move of desperation, Jonas leapt across and down onto the lounge car, crashing hard into Deke and landing both men painfully on the iron platform. Jonas rolled over and watched as the sleeping car reared up like a living beast and then turned sideways with a piercing shriek, crashing through the wooden frame of the bridge and down into the gorge below.

Seth Dingwall slid painfully out from under the bunk and continued across the compartment crumpling into the wall as the car rose higher at one end. Swearing he pulled himself up to the window in time to see splintering beams dancing out of the way as the train car finally stood almost perpendicular and dropped away into space.

He screamed and crashed back onto the door, watching the rain lashed cliff speed by the window. Seconds later he heard and felt the impact as the car exploded into hundreds of broken pieces, many of which found their way into Seth who gasped his dying breath in the rocky river bed under the weight of the iron wheel carriage.

Ryan lay flat on his back, mud soaked and shaking as huge chunks of bridge supports snapped and crashed down near him. The train stopped a few dozen yards up the track and Carl was slipping and sliding his way back from the cab. The rails across the bridge had twisted and ripped free of the bed; there would be no trains returning on this route for some time. Rivers of rainwater coursed down the embankment further weakening the remaining structure. Carl slid to a stop and fell beside Ryan in the mud.

"Damn! You okay, Marshal?" He got up on his knees and peered past the lawman down into the gorge.

"I think so. Mostly bumps and bruises. Guess it wasn't a great idea after all."

'No sayin' the bridge wouldn'a collapsed anyway with this weather." He helped Ryan to his feet and then they scrambled back to the last platform where Deke and Jonas were huddled under the little overhang, gaping at the wreckage behind them.

"You boys okay?" Ryan called, hauling himself up the steps. "What are you doin' here, Mister Howe?"

"Could we get inside," Carl complained, still on the step and exposed to most of the driving rain.

Quietly, Deke slipped past the crowd in the lounge car as they all mobbed to one end to pester the Marshal. After an ordeal like the one he'd just been through, he needed a drink—a big one. He jogged through the dining car and was about to enter the kitchen when he saw the prisoner Devlin come in.

Deke backed off immediately and slipped back into the dining car doorway. This was bad... very bad. He went to the washroom and locked the door, fishing a half bottle of whiskey from a hidey-hole prepared long ago. The liquor went down like fire and Deke sat on the toilet and held his shaking leg with one hand and the bottle with the other. He should tell the Marshal, somebody had to let him know.

He gulped down another long swallow and burped, sagging back against the wall. Another swallow and Deke's vision blurred and darkened. He drained the bottle and let it fall to the floor then leaned forward fumbling for the door latch, shifting it to the locked position accidentally. The move altered his balance and he tipped forward into a drunken heap on the floor, head swimming and eyes closing in peaceful sleep.