Loosed from the confining walls, the gigantic column subsides in height, spreading on either side of the tracks.  It inundates a vast area of the low country surrounding the station.

Through the employment of the block system, but one train in each direction is permitted to enter the tunnel at the same time.

A partition wall bisects the tunnel into ’parallel sections, each containing a single track.  The left-hand section, on which are east-bound tracks, is the one in which the telegraph wires run.  The explosion wrecks the walls of the tunnel and breaks the wires.

The only explanation that can be offered is that the compressed air cylinder on the car exploded.  On each of the tunnel cars a compressed air apparatus is attached, to insure against the trains being stalled in the tunnel in the event of the electric motor giving out.

Nevins experiences no difficulty in losing himself in the crowd when the train reaches Calais.  He goes at once to a cheap furnished room which he has previously engaged.  He still wears the attire of a train hand.  Once in his room he sinks upon the bed, his mind and body thoroughly fatigued by the strain that has been placed upon them.

For more than an hour he is motionless; then his reserve gradually returns.

“I have fulfilled my pledge,” he says to himself.  “It had to be done to-day, for otherwise I should have been compelled to die with Golding.  I have started the execution of the edict of proscription a day in advance of the schedule.

“This will be the signal for the thirty-nine to do their duty.  They must hear of Golding’s death to-day.  I shall cable the news to New York; once there it will be heralded through the country.

“And they will suppose that Golding and a French financier met death accidentally.  Yes, the people will accept this view; but the Committee! ah! it will know the truth.  To the Thirty-nine it will mean that one of their brothers has gone to his fate with one of the Transgressors.  It will dispel any symptom of hesitancy on their part.

“Two men are supposed to have died in the explosion.  The tunnel is destroyed.  Who can say that one of the occupants of the car escaped?”

He sits on the edge of the bed bending forward, and rests his head in his hands.  In this attitude he remains for several minutes.

“Good God, forgive me!” he cries, fervently.  “I cannot die in ignorance of to-morrow!  I must hear that my plan is faithfully carried out; that the Transgressors are annihilated, and the committee have kept their pledge.  Is it false in me to wait?  No; for I do not fear death; I would have faced it forty times could I have done so.  The Transgressors would all have fallen by my hand had such a thing been possible.  I shall keep my pledge, to-morrow.”

A few minutes later Nevins leaves the house dressed in a plain suit.  He enters the cable office and writes the following message: