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

f fiHed Se95l0n' HAS not his grace ar
"No, sir,'' replied the old servant,
leaning from the box. There has been
an accident to the 8 :45. No one hurt,
sir. No need for alarm, for his grace
can't have been in the train:''
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
ean sGng the b tran he and cd S0R he
see the duke.'',
from the general by adding that, not
satisfied with that, he got the station
master to wire up the line to the point
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
time table, and knew that only one
moro train from London would stop at
Tarrant road that night-the last. due
at a quarter past midnight. The coach
man, therefore, received, as he had ex-
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''
FAY, and without food if it is SO
willed by Allah and the sahib.' -
g 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
J., spot, especially with regard to the life
= they were pledged to defend and the
= = be no accident ct all, but move OF
; their mysterious antagonists. 1t need
ed but few words to make AzimoolaE
!. understand, and he was gone-even be
= fore his hand, raised in unconscious sa
T. lutte, had dropped to his side. =.
:: The general fell to pacing to and fre
u again, striving. to penetrate the new
situation that had arisen, and, as was
I his wont when matters went wrong
9 not sparing himself, much scathins
u criticism. For what had seemed t.
him good reason, he had put all hi
s eggs in one basket gone nap as
/ he reflected, on the duke and Forsyth
e catching the S:45, and now disaster has a4S
r overtaken that very train. If the VII
l lage postoffice had been open, he woult
9 have wired to know if the duke wa
Q still at Beaumanoir House, for every
IS thing hinged on whether he had start
g ed, and Sadgrove felt an ominous pre-
sentiment that he had. The people h
l. was playing against were not the sor
g to wreck a train without prospect O.
10 adequate result.
d Presently tie twin lamps went twink
It ling down the avenue again, and tn
l. general tried to comfort himself wit
a the hope that when they reappeare
d Beaumanoir would be in the carriage
a After all, Alec. Forsyth was with hin
= What had befallen the one should hay
1t befallen the other, and he had tn
r greatest confidence in his nephew
to Readiness and resource. It might eve
le be, the general told himself, that Ale
VS. had suspected foul play to the, S:4;
lg and had purposely delayed departure
a altho, in conflict with this theory, aros
a. the conjecture that in that case tn
ID railway people would have been Warne'
and there would have been no ''acc
90 dent'' at all.
q. q But what was the use of followin
,a threads which, in the absence Of o sui
No stantial starting point, led nowhere
as The worried veteran gave up the futl
an task in favor of more practical wor
" " and occupied himself in learning tt
az er route by which the miscreants who ha
wv tried to suffocate the duke had reache
:" the chimneystack over his chambe
IT, He found that decayed buttress ha
ay given them access to the top Of tt
ancient refectory, whence an easy elm
50. along slanting gutterpipe formed
nd royal road to the roof of the ma:
in The discovery, interesting in itsel
ng was doubly so from the deduction.
he be made therefrom. The men who hs
as climbed the roof would have BET
he caught like rats in a trap if the dul
by had raised the alarm, and they mu
ht either have had complete confidence
their ability to kill him by the cha
ed coal fumes, or, in the event Of a hitc
he in the duke IS unwillingness to rouse Il
Oh household.
~ eEgad! but they must have a mas
I'm grip on him. to trust to his not sques
I 4 4 (