She caught at him frantically.

"Don't go--don't leave me."

He disengaged himself roughly from her clinging hands.

"It only wants a moment's pluck," he said, "and then you'll be safe."

The next minute he was over the side, hanging by his hands from the edge
of the bent and twisted flooring of the carriage, and a second afterwards
she heard him drop. Peering out, she could see him standing on the
ground below, his arms held out towards her.

"Jump!" he called.

But she shrank from the drop into the darkness.

"I can't!" she sobbed helplessly. "I can't!"

He approached a step nearer, and the light from some torch close at hand
flashed onto his uplifted face. She could see it clearly, tense and set,
the blue eyes blazing.

"God in heaven!" he cried furiously. "Do what I tell you. _Jump_!"

The fierce, imperative command startled her into action, and she jumped
blindly, recklessly, out into the night. There was one endless moment of
uncertainty, and then she felt herself caught by arms like steel and set
gently upon the ground.