"When does the next train pass, Harper?"

"In twenty minutes. Will you go on it to Chicago?"

"Not to Chicago. I shall stop half a hundred miles this side, or more. I wish to do a little more investigating."

"Don't you accept what the dying Swart said as true?"

"Not wholly."

"Would a dying man be likely to utter a falsehood?"

"I can't say. What is your opinion?"

There was a peculiar look in the eyes of Dyke Darrel, as he put the question.

"I should think there could be no doubt on the subject."

"Indeed; then you consider that the last name that fell from the lips of Sam Swart was that of the man who instigated the wicked crime on the midnight express?"