Year: 1875

i Carriage after carriage we examined.


and though Davis detected no thief, he


turned away only more hopefully from


each. He was so sure they were there


and that escape was impossible. We


reached the last carriage in the line, and


now my heart beat in the oldest man.


ner possible.


/ ''ls this compartment empty, then?"


asked Davis, while my fingers were ac-
tually shaking as I put my finger in the


door OF the center one. ssEmpty and
dark?n


"Even if it had been empty, it would
mt have been left dark,n / muttered.
looking in. .sHallo! What's come to
the lamp?" f.


might well ask what was come to
the lamp, for the compartment was as
dark as if it had never been lighted: vet
had not myself stood and watched the
lighted lamp put in at Rugby? And
the carriage was empty too.
"Why was this?" asked the detective,
turning sharply upon me. ssWhy was
not the lamp lightedp"


But the lamp was lighted, and burn
ing now as sensibly as the others-if we
| could but have seen it. As we soon discov-
cred, the glass was covered with kind
OF tarpaulin, intensely black and strong
ly adhesive, and the carriage was as
completely dark as if no lamp had been
there at all. The perplexity in Davis
face was as great as my own, when
told him who had travelled here. ssThev
couldn't have left the train here, at any
rate he said; and knew that as we'll
as he did.


But you have guessed the end Dur
ing those few minutes that we stopped
on the line, the two thieves
the lamp even after had left them and
using their own key-had left the car
riage under cover of the darkness:
managing their escape in their black
dresses out into the blackness of the
night as cleverly as they had managed
their theft and subsequent concealment.
But how could they have depended on
this unusual delay-this exquisite OPP
portunity given them in the utter dark
ness, close to the city, yet at no station?
When officially made my deposition,
and explained the cause of our stop
page, something of the truth seemed to
break upon us all; but it was not for a
good while that it settled into certain
ty. Then it got clear to every bodythat
the older scoundrel had duped us more
ingeniously than the younger ones. As
the incapable old lady (deaf as stone,
and so blind that she had to peer
through her glittering glasses, with eyes
always half closed, and SO hungry that
she had to stop the train for luncheon
basket) he had played upon US the
neatest trick of all. Where on earth
were the thick iron gray hair and
whiskers by which we were to have
identified him? But by the time the
police saw the whole thing clearly it
was too late to follow up any clew to
him.


The cab which had taken the eccen-
trio old lady and her parcels and flow
ers from Easton was lost in the city,
and could not be tracked. A high re-
ward was offered for information, but
no one ever won it. My firm belief is
that it was no legitimately licensed cab
at all, but one belonging to the gang.
and part of the finished fraud. I verify
believe, too, that sometimes now
though perhaps on the other side of the
channel-those three practiced knaves
onjoy hearty laugh over that Decem-
ber journey by night express.


Davis still assures me, with the most
cheerful confidence, that he shall vet
have the pleasure some day of trapping
three of the most expert and skillful
thieves in Britain. / wish felt as sure
of 1.-THE Argosy.