“All right. Going out to look over the ground?”
“Yes; and to solve the riddle if we can. By the way, I’m glad to see the conductors and brakemen still at work. I hope you’re going to stick.”
“Well,” answered the other, “we had a meeting last night, but of course I can’t tell you what happened there. I can say this, though—you don’t need to lose any sleep over it yet awhile.”
“That’s good,” said Allan, his cheeks flushing with pleasure. “Here we are!” he added, as he glanced out the window.
The conductor pulled the signal cord sharply and Allan and Stanley dropped off as the train’s speed slackened. Then the conductor gave the go-ahead signal, and the train sped eastward on its way.
They had been carried a little past the place where the derelict had been discovered. Allan led the way back, pointed out the spot, as nearly as he could—very nearly, however, for he found the fusee which the fireman had burnt—and then sat down on the bank beside the roadway, while Stanley prowled up and down like some sort of wild beast. His great hooked nose seemed to grow longer and more hooked, and his little close-set eyes sparkled with a strange brilliancy. For Stanley was really a man of considerable ability and had been successful in clearing up more than one abstruse problem. Allan watched him with a good deal of curiosity, and the thought came to him that he would not care to have this fellow on his trail.
“I can’t make much out of it,” Stanley said at last, stopping before Allan. “Let’s look around the neighbourhood a little.”
The track, at this point, ran along a shallow cut, the bank on either side rising to a height of two or three feet. The right of way, about twenty-five feet in width, was bordered by rail fences, and back of them was a stretch of scrubby woodland. Stanley, walking slowly along the bank on the left, stopped suddenly and pointed to the ground.
“Look at that,” he said. “There’s been a wagon here. Two wagons,” he added, a moment later, pointing to other traces.
“To take the prisoners away in,” ventured Allan.