[Illustration: DRIFT, CRICKET FIELD, LISKEARD.]
Not long after Coleman had been received into Torridge, news was brought that another driver, rather further up the line, was dying. Mr. Williams, who is only nineteen years of age, again started on an errand of mercy and rescue. This time he was accompanied by Mr. Thornton, his tutor, and some of the relief party, who had helped to carry Coleman into his hospitable home. About 150 yards beyond Coleman's engine the party came across another engine completely buried in the snow, even to the funnel. Lying near to it was its driver, who had evidently crawled off the footplate in the hope of reaching shelter from the bitter snowstorm. At once he was carried to Torridge, apparently dead, and was laid on a mattress before a large fire.
An attempt to administer restoratives failed, so tightly was the man's teeth clenched. All that could be done was to promote circulation by the warmth of fire and friction. Rubbing the limbs and body was persevered in, and at length the man gave a groan. That, however, was the only sign of life he gave for three hours, during which time the rubbing was persevered in by relays of helpers. Two hours afterwards--that is five hours after he had been brought in--he was sufficiently recovered to speak, but it was some time after that before it could be said that he was out of danger. When he first recovered speech he was found to be delirious, and he continued in a state of delirium, more or less, the whole of the night.
When Mr. C. C. Compton, the divisional superintendent, called at Torridge early next morning, to ascertain how the driver was, it was reported that he was making favourable recovery, but that it would not be possible to remove him for some days. The man suffered much in his legs and feet, which are believed to be considerably frostbitten. His hands appeared to be all right. He remained some time at Torridge, and was most carefully tended. Eventually he and the driver first rescued recovered.
A plucky journey was undertaken on the Wednesday after the storm by Captain Cowie, R.E., with a view to ascertaining the damage done between Totnes and Plympton to the postal telegraph wires, and being unable to proceed on the journey by rail in consequence of the blocks _en route_, he set out from the former place with a determination to cover the distance on foot. He was the first to attempt the venturesome task, and the consciousness of the difficulties that would have to be encountered did not appear to trouble him. Proceeding as fast as circumstances would permit, he eventually accomplished the journey of nineteen miles, meeting with hardly a solitary individual the whole of the way.