*******
Night hung its sable mantle over the earth. A silver moon rode in a
clear sky, and the lightning express rattled down through the night
with a hiss and screech that rent the silence with an uncanny sound.
The train was speeding through the Empire State, and when morning
dawned, with no accident happening, it would come thundering into the
great city by the sea.
Two persons occupying a seat in the car next the sleeper merit our
attention. One is a heavily-veiled lady, apparently sleeping, since
her head reclines against the back of the seat, and a low breathing is
heard, or might be but for the noise made by the train rattling over
the steel rails.
Who is the woman?
No need to ask when we note the fact that the man sitting there
possesses red hair and beard--the irrepressible Professor Darlington
Ruggles, of Chicago. He has been eminently successful thus far in his
plot for the safe abduction of Nell Darrel. Under the influence of a
powerful drug he conveyed her to the station, and set out on the
previous day for the East.
His companion was an invalid sister, who was in a comatose state a
portion of the time as the result of her ill health. This was the
story told by the Professor to inquisitive people, and the truth did
not come to the surface.
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