In spite of the constant work of the plows, little drifts of snow lay across the road; the tire-tracks of the cars which had just passed were half obliterated. Even an expert like the Superintendent could not make speed on a night like this, no matter how great the emergency. He swung around the curve of the bridge, still meeting no car from the east. Then just as he was nearing Windy Point, he came to the first of the parked cars.

They were all on the right-hand side of the road, but farther ahead there must be a block. The Superintendent pulled up behind the last car, and jumped out. If anyone, he thought, ever needed to be three or four people at once, he at that moment was it. He ran down beside the line of cars, clicking off in his mind the things to be done and the order of their doing. Save life; see what’s the matter; keep it from getting worse; straighten it out; get the road open.

As he ran, he mapped out the situation. Windy Point—the road swung around a steep out-jutting of granite. On the outside of the curve a cliff fell away. And the Point was named because from some trick of topography a redoubled wind swirled about it. Elsewhere the storm might ease off, but at Windy Point there was always a blizzard; if no snow was falling, the wind picked it off the ground and blew it through the air.

Ahead on the curve the Superintendent saw the moving beam of a flashlight. “There’s where the block is!” he thought. Then, just as he most wanted to rush forward, he dug his hob-nails into the snow, and turned to a car he was just passing. He pounded vigorously on the closed window-glass; he could feel the throb of the engine.

The window-glass lowered two inches and a blankly wondering pair of eyes stared out.

“Open your windows or shut off your engine,” shouted the Superintendent without ceremony. “Want to suffocate to death with gas-fumes?”

He saw the look of sudden consternation come into the eyes, and then he ran on. “Idiots!” he thought, “Closing all the windows and then running the engine to keep warm!”

Now both lanes were full of halted cars pointed downhill. The reckless and over-confident drivers had tried to pass the cars ahead, and now the road was blocked solidly. The Superintendent raged within himself at the stupidity of man.