CHAPTER VII

The Man of Steel

As she hurtled towards the bottom of a deep ravine, Margo Lane experienced a strange sensation. The world, filled just a moment before with the roar of the express train racing past just overhead, and the wind rushing and whistling in her ears, grew oddly silent. Time seemed to slow to a crawl. "Is this it? Is this how my life ends?" she wondered. Her next thought, which she suspected might be her last, was of the man she loved. "Oh Lamont, where are you?" she called out to the darkness, uncertain anyone could even hear her as she plummeted ever faster and ever deeper into the gorge.

In the next moment, incredibly miraculously someone answered her question. "I'm afraid he's not available at the moment, Miss Lane. But don't worry, we'll find him. Right now, though, I think I'd better save you first," said a man's calm but commanding voice out of the night.

In the next moment, Margo felt something even more incredible. A strong, firm hand seemed to pluck her out of the air, hold her steady, and stop her deadly free fall. As she seemed to hang suspended in midair and her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she began to grasp the incredible truth that a man was indeed holding her up; a man who seemed to be hovering above the bottom of the gorge--flying, even. A crimson cape streamed out behind him in the wind and the moonlight. She sensed who he was, but it seemed too astonishing to fully comprehend.

"Superman?" she asked in amazement. The man nodded and smiled. "How did you . . .? Where did you . . .?" Margo mumbled inarticulately, unable even to frame the questions that were forming furiously in her mind, one after the other.

"Don't worry about a thing, Miss Lane. I've got you," the man said. He tucked her under his right arm as easily as if she were a parcel he'd picked up at the post office.

"You've got me. But who's got you?" she asked incredulously. Superman merely smiled. Suddenly, Margo drew in a breath sharply as panic seized her. "Lois! Where's Lois?" she demanded.

"Look to your left, Miss Lane," Superman said calmly.

Margo turned her head slowly. There, tucked safely under Superman's left arm, cradled the way a halfback might cradle a football, was Lois Lane. Lois caught sight of her sister and gave a tiny wave and a wan smile, as if she too was still bewildered by what had just happened.

Superman rose to the top of the ravine and set the two Lane sisters down on their feet near its edge as easily and gently as if they were two pieces of fine china being returned to a shelf. "There we are," he said. "Are you both all right?"

"We're fine, Superman, but you've got to stop the train," Lois blurted anxiously. "Those two thugs were going to do us in and wreck the train to cover their tracks!"

"Great Scott! Then I've got to hurry! Stay here!" The Man of Steel ordered. With a bound and a brief gust of wind, he was airborne once again, vanishing into the darkness as swiftly as he had come.

Ed Granger, the engineer on the Metropolis Flyer, peered into the dark, alert for any danger on the tracks or any obstacle to the train's passage. Joe Morton, the conductor, and Nate Hollis, the train guard, sat with him in the cab, passing a thermos of coffee back and forth, trying to keep awake through the long night hours. Granger thought he saw a fallen tree trunk on the track ahead, but he couldn't be sure at this distance. In the next moment, however, he saw something so truly remarkable that he doubted his own eyes. With a great rush of wind, a man seemed to swoop down out of the sky, brush the mighty oak aside as if it were a twig, and take up a position squarely in the middle of the tracks, holding out an arm as if warning the train to stop. Granger gave three long blasts on the train's whistle, but the man refused to budge. In the glare of the huge headlight on the front of the train's engine, the three railroad men could plainly see the newcomer's close fitting blue costume emblazoned with a yellow diamond-shaped shield bearing a large red S.

"Holy mackerel!" Ed Granger shouted. "Hey, fellas, did ya see that? It's Superman!"

"Of course I seen it!" Morton answered. "Hit the brakes, Ed, hit the brakes!"

The engineer did his utmost, but it was impossible to bring the mammoth train to a halt in such a short distance. Even at greatly reduced speeds, the Metropolis Flyer would have obliterated any ordinary man foolish enough to stand in its way, but The Last Son of Krypton was no ordinary man. The Man of Steel leaned forward, planting his feet and extending his arms outward, using his titanic strength, in effect, to catch the train and bring the mighty locomotive to a stop as gently as if it were sliding into the station.

The engineer, conductor, and train guard quickly scrambled from the cab, still astonished at what they had seen.

"Superman!" Granger asked anxiously, "Are you all right?"

"If you hadn't stopped us when you did, we'd be goners for sure," Morton added.

"I'm fine gentlemen, but unless I miss my guess, the two men who planned that wreck are still on your train," Superman answered, "Two men calling themselves Butch and Spike. If you'll excuse me."

Once again, he leaped into the air, soaring over the length of the train and using his X-ray vision to peer into the cars and locate the two criminals. In a moment, he saw two men racing for the rear of the train, apparently hoping to make their escape. Superman dove through a skylight in the top of one of the passenger cars ahead of the men, planning to intercept the escapees. There was a dramatic crash of glass as Superman plunged through the skylight and took up a position, just as Butch and Spike entered the car.

When they saw who awaited them, the two felons immediately reversed course, but before they could escape, The Man of Tomorrow used his extraordinary speed to race ahead of them and clap a hand on each of their shoulders, locking both men in an iron grip. Superman lifted both Butch and Spike off their feet and looked fearlessly into their eyes. The criminals, by contrast, cringed and looked away.

"Please, Superman, don't hurt us," Butch whimpered.

"Why, Butch," Superman answered. "It's nothing personal. It's just business." With that, The Man of Steel knocked the two felons' heads together and dropped both men to the floor, where they lay dazed and senseless. Moments later, Granger the engineer, Morton the conductor, and Hollis the guard burst into the car. Hollis had his gun drawn.

"Here they are gentlemen," Superman said. "I don't think these two will be any more trouble. Please make sure no one else on the train is injured. If you'll excuse me again."

"Right, Superman. We'll take it from here," Granger answered. But almost before the engineer could reply, The Man of Steel had vaulted up through the skylight and into the darkness..

Whenever they tried to recall the incident later, the next few minutes were always a blur to Lois and Margo Lane. They shivered in the cold and the dark waiting for Superman to return. Then with a gust of wind and an iron grip he was there, and they were soaring into the night, back towards the train. He set them down gently in the grass beside the tracks, entrusting them to the conductor, who brought them back aboard.

Superman himself dove through the broken skylight and made his way quickly and quietly to the sleeping car. Moments later, a bleary-eyed, pajama clad Clark Kent emerged from his berth, as Lois and Margo were making their way back to their own bunks escorted by the conductor.

"Golly, Lois, what's all the racket?"Kent asked with a yawn. Other passengers poked their heads out sleepily, curious at all the commotion.

"Oh, Clark, it was wonderful! Superman saved us!" Margo exclaimed.

"That's right, and Mr. Ace Reporter here missed the whole story," Lois snorted. "Superman saved us, prevented a train wreck, and captured two crooks, but he"--she jerked a thumb angrily at Clark Kent--"he slept through the whole thing!"

End of Chapter VII