midnight
Will was not surprised at seeing him there ; but he sobbed excitedly : `` Oh , she is dead ! '' `` No , '' replied her father ; `` she is not . '' Clara stirred , and her lips moved ; but she did not open her eyes , and then her father noticed that a strange mark lay over her face . How Mr. Hardy succeeded in carrying the girl to the top of the bank , and how he left her there in the care of brave-hearted women while he went down into that hell 's pit to rescue victims imprisoned and groaning for help ; how Bess related the accident of the night and tried to explain how she was not hurt except a scratch or two , because she fell between two car-seat cushions that were jammed around her and protected her from injury ; how the excitement grew as it was discovered that the dead and dying would number more than seventy-five , instead of ten or twelve , as Burns had said ; how finally Robert Hardy and Will and Bess and Clara , with other victims , were taken back to Barton , where a great crowd of anxious , pale-faced people was surging through the station and over the track ; how James Caxton was first to board the train down by the shops , at the risk of his neck , as in the rainy darkness he swung himself on the dead run up to the platform of the coach ; how Mrs. Hardy met her children and husband ; how there was sorrow in many a home in Barton that night and for many days to come ; how Mr. Hardy , a little after midnight , entirely exhausted by the events of the day and night , finally fell asleep and dreamed the scene all over again , -- all this and a great deal more might be of interest concerning one of the most remarkable railroad accidents that ever occurred in this country , but it would be out of place in this narrative , for it is all true , exactly and literally , only the detailed horrors of it no pen can describe , no words can tell . Mr. Hardy woke about eight o'clock , rested , but feeling very lame and sore from his exertions of the night . His first thought was of Clara . When he went to sleep the girl seemed to be resting without pain , but that strange mark across her face made them all anxious .