The reputation of Shanghai Sam and Pierre Petard was known to every police official in the central west. Petard had served in the Allied aviation forces during the war but he had later been revealed as a German spy and had thrown his lot with that of the Sky Hawk, former German war ace. Shanghai Sam came from the opposite end of the world, a white man who had been king of the crooks in the far east. When the middle west had offered a richer field he had not hesitated to transfer his activities and had joined the Sky Hawk and his band.
“Have you found any trace of either of them, except the fingerprints, near the scene of the attempted robbery?” asked Tim.
“I looked over the reports a few minutes ago,” replied Collins, “and they must have vanished into thin air.”
“I’m not so sure but what that’s exactly what they did,” said Tim as he thought of the queer marks he had found near the railroad right-of-way.
Collins warned them to be extremely careful of their movements for the next few days and then hung up.
“Well, what do you think of that?” asked Ralph.
“Just about what I expected,” said Tim, “I was convinced that men trained under the Sky Hawk were behind the attempt. They are the only ones with the brains and the daring to have thought of such a way to stop the mail. The only thing that averted a million dollar robbery last night was the quick hand of engineer Henshaw and his decision to run through the fire.”
“The railroad ought to retire him on a double pension,” said Ralph.
“Don’t think he’d want to retire,” said Tim. “He’s the kind who will stay at the throttle until he is too old to stand the strain of the high speed demanded today.”
Their conversation turned to what might happen in the future and how best to protect themselves against Shanghai Sam and Pierre Petard.