She knows that these boulders are a poor impediment to a wildcat car; but they are the only things available.

A whirring sound rings in her ears.  It is the car rolling down the grade with the velocity of a thunder-bolt.

In a minute or two at the most, the car will be upon her.

Still she does not falter.  The second pyramid must be completed.

Again she turns to look down the track.  The headlight of the engine seems to be upon her.  It is, in fact, just crossing the culvert.

A glance at the pile of rocks makes them appear insignificant.

“They will never be able to stop the car,” she moans.

Then with a final effort she tugs at a boulder larger than any of the others.  She has it on the rail when the whistling of the engine startles her.

The engineer has seen the lower pyramid of rocks on the track and has whistled “down brakes.”

The train is stopping; it will be saved, for one of the two obstructions will derail the motor-car.

Sister Martha starts to run down the track.  She has not taken a dozen steps when the juggernaut dashes into the pyramid of rocks.

Instantly there is a flash and an explosion, that shakes the mountain.  Great ledges of rock slide from the overhanging crags.

In a shower of splintered stone, Martha is literally entombed.  Her life is sacrificed on the altar of devotion.  She has lived a Christian and dies a martyr.

But the Keystone Express is saved.

Its passengers and crew, when they recover from the fright occasioned by the explosion, hasten from the cars.  Trainmen are sent up the track to investigate.  Brakemen are also sent down the track to carry the news to the station.

One of these men stumbles across Widow Braun.  He returns to the train carrying her.

From her, Trueman and the other passengers, including the Coal and Iron Police, learn of the plot to wreck the train and of the heroic effort made by Sister Martha and the widow herself, to avert the calamity.

Trueman starts in quest of Sister Martha.  Accompanied by one of the trainmen with a lamp, he reaches the scene of the explosion.

The trainman discovers the body of Martha.

Bending over the prostrate body Harvey Trueman weeps.  It is the manly expression of deep emotion.

“She died to save my life and the lives of the hundreds on the train.  Was there ever a more noble sacrifice?  It cannot be that she has given her life in vain.  I must do the work she has begun.  If I can prevent the miners from committing acts of violence it will atone for the loss of Sister Martha.”

From the top of the mountain, Trueman catches a glimpse of the torches and miners’ lamps.  The miners are moving toward the town.  Trueman is familiar with every inch of ground about Wilkes-Barre.  He has played on the mountain as a boy.  He now recollects a by-path which will bring him to the town in advance of the miners who are on the wagon road.