Bart's strained hearing shortly caught a rustling sound. It was followed by a kind of choking moan. Unmistakably, he decided, both came from the trunk.
"Is it locked? No," he said, examining the front of the trunk. Then Bart snapped back its two catches. He seized the cover and threw it back.
"Gracious!" gasped Peter Pope.
Bart himself was a trifle startled.
As the trunk cover lifted, a man stepped out.
CHAPTER XXVI
ON THE MIDNIGHT EXPRESS
"Air—and water!" panted the mysterious occupant of the trunk.
Bart looked him over in some wonder. He was a short, wiry man, and arrayed in a close-fitting costume resembling that of the circus athlete on duty.