The Treasure-Train | Page 3

matter in the hands of Lane."
At the mention of Lane, which her father accompanied by a keen
glance, she flushed a little and bit her lip. I wondered whether it meant
more than that, of the two suitors, her father obviously preferred
Barnes.
Euston had called to see Barnes, and, as the doctor led him up the hall
again, Miss Euston rejoined us.
"You need not drive us back," thanked Kennedy. "Just drop us at the
Subway. I'll let you know the moment I have arrived at any
conclusion."
On the train we happened to run across a former classmate, Morehead,
who had gone into the brokerage business.
"Queer about that Barnes case, isn't it?" suggested Kennedy, after the
usual greetings were over. Then, without suggesting that we were more
than casually interested, "What does the Street think of it?"

"It is queer," rejoined Morehead. "All the boys down-town are talking
about it--wondering how it will affect the transit of the gold shipments.
I don't know what would happen if there should be a hitch. But they
ought to be able to run the thing through all right."
"It's a pretty ticklish piece of business, then?" I suggested.
"Well, you know the state of the market just now--a little push one way
or the other means a lot. And I suppose you know that the insiders on
the Street have boosted Continental Express up until it is practically
one of the 'war stocks,' too. Well, good-by-- here's my station."
We had scarcely returned to the laboratory, however, when a car drove
up furiously and a young man bustled in to see us.
"You do not know me," he introduced, "but I am Rodman Lane,
general manager of the Continental Express. You know our company
has had charge of the big shipments of gold and securities to New York.
I suppose you've read about what happened to Barnes, our treasurer. I
don't know anything about it--haven't even time to find out. All I know
is that it puts more work on me, and I'm nearly crazy already."
I watched him narrowly.
"We've had little trouble of any kind so far," he hurried on, "until just
now I learned that all the roads over which we are likely to send the
shipments have been finding many more broken rails than usual."
Kennedy had been following him keenly.
"I should like to see some samples of them," he observed.
"You would?" said Lane, eagerly. "I've a couple of sections sawed from
rails down at my office, where I asked the officials to send them."
We made a hurried trip down to the express company's office. Kennedy
examined the sections of rails minutely with a strong pocket-lens.
"No ordinary break," he commented. "You can see that it was an

explosive that was used--an explosive well and properly tamped down
with wet clay. Without tamping, the rails would have been bent, not
broken."
"Done by wreckers, then?" Lane asked.
"Certainly not defective rails," replied Kennedy. "Still, I don't think you
need worry so much about them for the next train. You know what to
guard against. Having been discovered, whoever they are, they'll
probably not try it again. It's some new wrinkle that must be guarded
against."
It was small comfort, but Craig was accustomed to being brutally frank.
"Have you taken any other precautions now that you didn't take
before?"
"Yes," replied Lane, slowly; "the railroad has been experimenting with
wireless on its trains. We have placed wireless on ours, too. They can't
cut us off by cutting wires. Then, of course, as before, we shall use a
pilot-train to run ahead and a strong guard on the train itself. But now I
feel that there may be something else that we can do. So I have come to
you."
"When does the next shipment start?" asked Kennedy.
"To-morrow, from Halifax."
Kennedy appeared to be considering something.
"The trouble," he said, at length, "is likely to be at this end. Perhaps
before the train starts something may happen that will tell us just what
additional measures to take as it approaches New York."
While Kennedy was at work with the blood-soaked gauze that he had
taken from Barnes, I could do nothing but try to place the relative
positions of the various actors in the little drama that was unfolding.
Lane himself puzzled me. Sometimes I felt almost sure that he knew

that Miss Euston had come to Kennedy, and that he was trying, in this
way, to keep in touch with what was being done for Barnes.
Some things I knew already. Barnes was comparatively wealthy, and
had evidently the stamp of approval of Maude Euston's father. As for
Lane, he was far from wealthy, although ambitious.
The company was in a delicate situation where