“No delay, Fairbanks,” he cautioned sternly. “We’ve taken too much trouble to miss this last chance to get you and your passenger.”
Ralph stopped the engine. Then calmly, but with a certain sense of peril and defeat, he faced the man.
“Where did you come from?” demanded Trevor in amazement.
“Only from inside the water tank,” responded the stranger coolly. “Been there since we left Stanley Junction.” 86
“Why, you are one of the fellows who were following me at the depot!” cried Trevor.
“Correct, boss,” chuckled the stranger. “Here’s my partner,” he announced, as the man Ralph had discovered on the cowcatcher appeared at the side of the cab. “We’ll relieve you two now,” continued the speaker to Ralph and Trevor. “Move back on that coal. We’ll try a bit of engineering ourselves.”
“See here, my man,” called out Trevor sharply. “What is the object of all this?”
“Object?” grinned the man. “You’ll know later. Important, for it took four men on the route, lots of inquiring before you came to Stanley Junction, two of us here now, others waiting for us somewhere else, to get you dead right.”
“Me!” exclaimed Trevor in amazement. “You mean me?”
“Nobody else.”