Free trader-journal and Ottawa fair dealer. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1920-1927, 1921-03-21
4 MINT klckln' mono"

lhl DhSIU"NS, AFTER you - llhh
your supper, call up your fireman and
I report 10 me here N In" roundhousc.
Wen take "A Hight engine and go down
along and get that runaway"
This seemed to settle Kirgan's half
| of the puzzle. We hadn't taken the
| gravel track into our calculations sim
| ply because II wasn't marked "a the
map we had been Studying; but that
| merely meant that the pit had been
opened some time after the map had
| been made,
When Gorchor had gone into the
| round-h0use 90 wash NJ and tell his
! fireman to report back, Kirgan and
| | crossed the yard ana headed for
! town. | left the mastcr.mcchanic at
/ the door of Il Greek cat-shOp that he
! patroni2od and went on M to the
| Billiard. | was just getting around
! to my piece of canned pumpkin pie
when the kid from the dspatchcr's
office came into the grill-roOm. stretch.
! ing his neck rs If he we're lOokln~ for
! somebody When he got his eve on
me he came across to my corner and
/ handed me a telegram. II was from
| Mr., Chadwick, under a Chicago date
| line, and it was addressed ITO the
General Managers Office" just like
| That There were only nine words
| In il, but they were oil strictly to the
| point: whats gone wrong? Where
| IS Mr. NorcroSS? Answer quick"
| saw in half second at least a
! part Of what had happened, MIR Chad
| wick was back from his Canadian
| trip, and somehody--thc New York
! people, pcrhaps-had wired him that
new general manager had been APP
/ pointed for Pioneer Short Line. The
! old wheat kings quick s'ot at our
| office showed that he wasn't in the
! plot, and that, whatever else had be-
| come Of him, Mr.. NorerosS hadn't IS
! yet turned up in Chicago.
Gee, but that brought on more
talk-a whaling lot of it. | meant
TO find out right away, If Mr.. Van
| Britt had come back from the scene
OF a wreck. He was the man TO an
SWer Mr. ChadWick's wire. But an
| interruption hutted in suddenly Just
as | was signing the dinner check.
| The head waiter. who knew me from
| having seen me 50 often with the boss, !
came over TO say that / was wanted
! quick at the telephone
II was Mrs Sheila on the wire, and !
| could tell by the way her voice
sounded that she was nightly OK
cited.
i've been calling you on every
phone I could think Of" was the way.
she began; and then: "Where is Mr.,
Van Britt"
told her about the wreck. and said
| was afraid he hadn't got back yet.
| heard something that sounded like
n mutfed and halfimpaticnt "oh. |
dear and then she went on II have
Just had q phone message from Mr.. |
tantrcll, the editor Of the Noun /
taineer He called the house to try
to find Major Hendricks He has heard .
something which may explain about
Mr. NorcroSS. He said he didn't want
20 put II on the wire"
That was enough for me "I'H go
right over to the Mountaiueer Office" /
| told her: and in lust about two
shakes of a dead lambs tail. was
| standing at Nj Cantrelrs elbow in
his little den on the third floor of the
newspaper building across the avenue .
Mrs. MHCrae telephoncd youf" he
asked, pushing his bunch of copy pa
per aside
Yes Just minute ago"
"lll give You what have. ana YOU
may do what YOU please with it, one
OF our young men randerby- has
discovered--in some way that he didn't
care to explain over the phone-thar
there was n plot Of some Kind con
cocted in the back room of dive on
lower Nevada avenue on the night
Mr. NorcroSs Disappeared From what
Rrandcrby says | take it that the
plot was overheard, in part. ut least.
by some habituc of the place who WIS
too drunk To get il entirely straight
and intelIigible The plotters were
four Of Canadians men and, rs
Branderby got it, they were plannin.
To steal a locomotive. DO YOU know
| anything about that?"
Il do. The engine was stolen all
right. that very night Krgan our
! mastcr-meChanic. has known it was
gone. but he has been keeping quiet
In hopes he'd he able To find the en-
CINE without making any public stir
about it,"
The story. AZ it has been handed
on to Branderhy, Is pretty badly mud
died" the editor went on There
was something in II about an attempt
To wreck and rob the Fast Mail. and
something else about sending note
to somebody at the Bullard-n note
! that would do the business was the
way 1t was put"
THAT note was sent tu Mr.. Nor
cross" | broke in exciiedy. taking a
running Jump nj the guess