There I was, sitting on the edge of the bunk, my legs dangling down, when the locomotives came together.
The berths, upper and lower, on the opposite side had already been made up by the porter.
"And there I was, sitting, legs dangling, not knowing where I was, on a trestle or a flat, when the thing happened.

I just naturally left that upper berth, soared like a bird across the aisle, went through the glass of the window on the opposite side clean head-first, turned over and over through the ninety feet of fall more times than I like to remember, and by some sort of miracle was mostly flat-out in the air when I bull's-eyed that pool of water.

It was only eighteen inches deep.

But I hit it flat, and I hit it so hard that it must have cushioned me.

I was the only survivor of my car.