KNOWING that Titanic sank on its maiden voyage; mathematician Henry Ernest Dudeney boards the train named Titanic with a sinking heart. His heart will go on, but the train's heart, its engine, slows down, an hour after starting from Anglechester and going towards Clinkerton. Henry finds that he is travelling with an engineer and an astronomer, besides Nobel laureates - physicist Einstein and chemist Fritz Haber.

The speed of the train induces sleep and they retire to their adjoining cabins. First the engineer's coffee maker catches fire. He smells the smoke, wakes up, unplugs the coffee maker, throws it out of the window, and goes back to sleep. Later, Haber the chemist smells smoke too. He wakes up and sees that a cigarette butt has set the trashcan on fire. He says to himself, "Hmm… how does one put out a fire? One can reduce the temperature of the fuel below the flash point and isolate the burning material from oxygen, or both. This could be accomplished by applying water." He picks up the trashcan, puts it in the shower stall, turns on the water, and, when the fire is out, goes back to sleep.

Henry the mathematician, of course, has been watching all this, so, later, when he finds that his pipe ashes have set the bed sheet on fire, he is not in the least taken aback. He says: "Aha! A solution exists!" and goes back to sleep.

The astronomer, Einstein and Henry are glancing from the train window and observe a black sheep in the middle of a field. "How interesting," observes the astronomer, "all British sheep are black!" At this, Einstein the physicist says: "No! Some British sheep are black."

Henry the mathematician gazes heavenwards and pulls out an answer from there: "In Britain, there exists at least one field, containing at least one sheep, at least one side of which is black." Everyone laughs at Henry and the engineer tells everyone Henry's way of putting out a fire. "That is why there is no Nobel Prize for mathematicians," says Einstein.

The train reaches Clinkerton two hours late. These men approach the driver, who says, "After the snag hit the engine, we had to continue the journey at three-fifths of the earlier speed. If only the snag had developed 50 miles farther on, the train would have arrived 40 minutes sooner." "Can anyone of you tell from this statement how far it is from Anglechester to Clinkerton?" says Henry. Einstein: "Space and time are undefined." Haber: "This is not a chemistry problem." Engineer: "Roughly…" Astronomer: "In light years, the distance would be insignificant."

Henry: "Mathematicians are better and luckier than all of you because they are judged by their own friends and the standards are exacting. The distance, in this case, is…" just then, the train blows its whistle and we are unable to hear the solution. However, these men hear it well, after which, Einstein gives Henry his watch. From now on, it shall be called Henry's Nobel.