“From conductor 83: metaphor, resolve, adirondacks, typists.”
“What!” shouted Glidden, jumping to his feet in a frenzy.
Ralph’s hand shook and the color left his face.
Translated, the message from the conductor of train No. 83 meant:
“The substitute pay car has disappeared.”
[CHAPTER XXVII—THE STOLEN PAY CAR]
Long before the whistles blew for seven o’clock at Stanley Junction the news had spread like wildfire--train No. 83, carrying the substitute pay car, containing two hundred thousand dollars in cash and a king’s ransom in bullion for the banks, had disappeared.
Somewhere between Fairview and Maddox, the time, and means unknown, the car containing all this treasure had been boldly stolen, disconnected from the train, had vanished.
One minute after receiving the startling cypher message, Ralph had telephoned to the superintendent of the road at his home in Stanley Junction. Within an hour that official and two assistants in hastily donned garb and with perturbed faces were at headquarters trying to solve a situation enshrouded in the densest mystery.
The wires were kept hot with messages to and from Fairview. The conductor of No. 83 could simply repeat his amazing story. When the train arrived at Maddox they found the precious treasure car missing. Their crippled engine could not be brought into service. The snow-clogged rails offered no chance for a hand car.