His voice trailed off into silence. At least it was drowned by the exhaust. The express rumbled out from under the train shed and Ralph eased her through the yards.
“Due for a bump to-night.” If that warning was serious, it was well worth Ralph Fairbanks’ attention.
“But the fellow doesn’t intimate where the bump is coming. Humph! Perhaps he doesn’t know. I bet that Andy McCarrey, if he has planned to hold up this train again, is not telling many people about it.
“Just those who do his wicked work. And who are they? Is Whitey Malone down there in Shadow Valley yet? Is it he whom Zeph is watching? Did he set off the dynamite that blew out that pillar?
“My goodness! I could ask a hundred questions along this line and get the same answer to all. Nothing! Well——”
The train left the outskirts of Rockton without any trouble. It ran smoothly over the well-ballasted track. The engineer and firemen gazed ahead keenly. All were on the alert for trouble, but Ralph did not tell his firemen of the warning he had received.
“Why worry them?” he thought. “It’s bad enough that I should feel as though a sword were hanging over me.”
CHAPTER XXIII
WHAT LIES AHEAD?
Whether it was wise or not, Ralph Fairbanks kept this special suspense to himself. In truth, while a fast train like the Midnight Flyer is under headway, the crew on the locomotive have little time for conversation.
The atmosphere in the cabin of such an engine as this great eight-wheeler drawing the express was tense enough all the way. There were but four let-ups in this mental strain which was felt by the firemen, as well as by the engineer. The Flyer pulled down to a stop at four stations before reaching the end of the run at Hammerfest. At these stops only, could the men on the locomotive talk with comfort.