Charlevoix county herald., 1921-04-22
SYNOPSIS.


CHAPTER L-Graham Norcross, rail-
road manager, and his secretary, Jimmie
Dodds, are marooned at Sand Creek sid
Ing with young lady, Sheila Macrae.
and her small cousin p niGn they S %iJ
a special car Is carried or.
CHAPTER u.-Norcross recognizes the
car stolen as John Chadwicks, financial
m1agnatsi whom ne Was TO meet at d0ica
The latter offers Norcross the manager
ship Of the Pioneer Short Line, which Is
In the hands OF eastern SPECTATORS
beaded by Breckenridge Dunton, presi-
dent of the line. Norcross, learning that
Sheila Macrae Ia stopping at Portal CITY,
accepts.
CHAPTER III.-Dodds overhears con-
versauon between Rufus Hatch and Gus
tave Henckel, Portal City hnanciers, In
which they admit completely in Chadwick
kidnapping, their object being to keep
Chadwick from attending meeting of
directors to reorganize the Pioneer Snort
Line. which would Jeopardize their inter-
ests.
CHAPTER Iv.-To curb the monopoly
controlled by Hatch and Henckel the Red
Tower corporation. Norcross forms the
Citizens Storage and Warehouse com
pany. He begins to manifest deep In
terest In Sheila Macrae; Dodds learns
from her husband. Norcross does not
know this.
CHAPTER ". Hatch, aware that
Dodds has knowledge Of his and Henck-
els participation in the Chadwick Kid
naping, offers him inducements to leave
Norcross. Dodds refuses. Leaving the
ONCE, he Is knocked senseless. Recov-
ering consciousness he learns that Nor
cross has disappeared and Is believed 70
have resigned and gone east.
CHAPTER VI.-Dodds connects Nor
cross disappearance with Vaccinations
Of Hatch and Henckel, and on recover
Ing strength sets out to solve the mys-
terry.
Tracing the other way-westward-
we had q clear track for ten miles to
Arroyo. Arroyo had no night opera
tor, so we agreed that the stolen en-
CINE might easily have slipped past
there without being marked down.
Eight miles beyond Arroyo we came
to Banta, the first night station west
Of Portal City. Here, as we figured
II, the wild engine must have been
seen by the operator, if by no one
Nelse. Banta was an apple town, and
the town itself might have been
asleep, but the wire man at the sta
ton shouldn't have been.
Lets hold Banta in suspense a bit,
and allow that by some means or
other the thieves managed to get by"
l suggested. "The next thing to be
considered is the fact that the Ten
Sixteen must now have been run
ning-without orders, we must remem-
ber-against the Fast Mail coming
east. The Mail didn't pass her any
where-not officially, at least; if it
had, the fact would show up in some
stations report to the dispatcher's
Office"
At this, we hunted up an official
time-card and began to figure on the
"meet" proposition. The Fast Mail
was due at Portal City at twelve
twenty, and on the night in question
II had been on time. Making due
time allowances for inaccuracy in the
yard watchman's story, the missing
engine could hardly have left the
Portal City yard much before ten
forty-five.
The Fast Mail was scheduled at
forty miles an hour. Its time at Banta
was eleven-fifty-three. Allowing the
1016 the same rate of speed in the
opposite direction, II would have
passed Banta at eleven-twelve or there
abouts. Hence there would still be
forty-one minutes running time to be
divided between the eastbound train
and the westbound engine. In other
words, the meetingpoint, with the two
running at the same. speed, would fall
about twenty minutes west of Banta.
Tracing the line on the blueprint,
we hunted for possible passing point,