About three o'clock in the morning
In all this Excalibur was the instrument of Destiny , as you shall hear . THE coroner 's jury was inclined at the time to blame the signalman , but the Board of Trade inquiry established the fact that the accident was due to the engine-driver 's neglect to keep a proper lookout . However , as the driver was dead and his fireman with him , the law very leniently took no further action in the matter . About three o'clock in the morning , as the train was crossing a bleak Yorkshire moor seven miles from Tetley Junction , the curate suddenly left the seat on which he lay stretched dreaming of Eileen and flew across the compartment on to the recumbent form of a stout commercial traveler . Then he rebounded to the floor and woke up -- unhurt . '' 'T is an accident , lad ! '' gasped the commercial traveler as he got his wind .