The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-06-10

rivedq"
Ono, sir,' replied the old servant,
leaning from the box. There has been
an accident to the S:45. No one hurt,
sir. No need for alarm, for his grace
can't have been in the train.'
How do you get at thatY' the gen
eral asked, doubtfully.
"The train was derailed between st.
Adams and Harpenden, sir. Some of
the passengers were shaken, but none
badly injured; so the fast train that
followed was run on to the up metals
and brought them on, stopping at every
station. But none got out at Tarrant
road. James here, - indicating the foot
man, "ran along the train and looked
into every carriage, but he could not
see the duke.'- -.
And Perrett won golden opinions
! from the general by adding that, not
satisfied with that, he got the station.
of the accident, and received in reply
the positive assurance that no injured
persons had been left behind. All had
been forwarded to their destinations by
the succeeding fast train, which had
been made " Slow for the purpose.
The general had already mastered the
timetable, and knew that only one
Tarrant road that night-the last. due
at quarter past midnight. The coach
man, therefore, received, as he had ex-
pected, orders to return to the station
in time to meet that train, and the gen
eral, lighting fresh cigar, strolled
back to the terrace, where, in response
to his low whistle, Azimoolah glided to
his side.
"There is work afoot," he said,
briefly. "Canst, as of yore, do with
out sleep at pinchY'
cay, and without food if it is SO
willed by Allah and the sahib:''
Whereupon the general gave him the
best directions he could to the scene
of the railway accident fifteen miles
away, and babe him HE thither with
all speed and CLEAN particulars on the
they were pledged to defend and the
nature of the accident, which might
. be no accident at all, but a move of
, their mysterious antagonists. 1T need
ed but few words to make Azimoolah
understand, and he was gone-even be,
fore his hand, raised in unconscious sa'
lutte, had dropped to his side. >.
: again, striving. to penetrate the new
situation that had arisen. and, as was
his wont when matters went wrong
, not sparing himself much scathine
criticism For what had seemed t.
him good reason, he had put all his
eggs in one basket gone nap as
he reflected, on the duke and Forsyth
catching the 9:45, and now disaster hae
overtaken that very train. If the vii
l lage postoffice had been open, he woulc
3 have wired to know if the duke was
still at Beaunlanoir House, for every
s thing hinged on whether he had start
3 ed, and Sadgrove. felt an ominous pre-
sentiment that he had. The people HI
: was playing against were not the sor
Q to wreck a train without prospect o.
o adequate result.
/ Presently the twin lamps went twink
t ling down the avenue again, and tn
: general tried to comfort himself witt
a the hope that when they reappearet
d Beaumanoir would be in the carriage
a After all, Alec Forsyth was with him
: What had befallen the one should hay
: greatest confidence in his nephew
9 readiness and resource. It might eve
e be, the general told himself, that Ale
S had suspected foul play to the 8:4s
g and had purposely delayed departure
a altho, in conflict with this theory, aros
l. the conjecture that in that case tn
d railway people would have been warnec
=. dent'' at all.
y But what was the use Of followin
:, threads which, in the absence of q sut
70 stantial starting point, led nowhere
- The worried veteran gave up the futl!
N task in favor OF more practical worl
y and occupied himself in learning th
:, y route by which the miscreants who ha
W tried to suffocate the duke had reache
I" the chimneystack over his chambe:
f. He found that a decayed buttress ha
v given them access to the top Of th
: ancient refectory, whence an easy elm
S. along a slanting gutterpipe formed
ID royal road to the roof Of the mai
in The discovery, interesting in itsel
70 was doubly so from the deduction
re be made therefrom. The men who ha
s. climbed the roof would have bee
le caught like rats in trap if the dul
~ had raised the alarm, and they mus
1t either have had complete confidence
their ability to. kill him by the cha
I'd coal fumes, or, in the event of a hitc
le in the duke s unwillingness to rouse tt
III household.
y HEgad! but they must have mast
m grip on him. to trust to his not squea