This change disturbed identities completely. The change had been made
at a way station, without causing remark among the passengers, the
most of whom were not through for the great city. Once New York
whelmed them, the scheming villain and poor Nell would be lost forever
to the man-tracker of the West.
There was a suspicion in the brain of Dyke Darrel that he scarcely
dared whisper to his own consciousness. It was that Harper Elliston
had a hand in the late villainy. The detective's eyes were open at
last, and he realized that his New York friend was not what he seemed.
It was this fact that induced Dyke Darrel to believe that the abductor
of Nell had turned his face toward the American metropolis. At once he
made search for Harry Bernard and Paul Ender.
Neither of them was he able to find, and he had not seen them for two
days previous.
It did not matter, however.
Leaving word at the hotel that he had gone to New York, Dyke Darrel
once more hastened to the depot, arriving just in time to leap aboard
the express headed for the Atlantic seaboard.
The train that had left four hours earlier was almost as fast as the
one taken by the detective, so that if no accident happened to the
earlier train, there could be little hope of running down his prey
before New York was reached.
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