e other of them might by some circumstance run
across the missing Clark and his young charge.

"I've got an idea that I ought to run down a branch line of the road I
have never been over," suggested Fred, at the close of their animated
colloquy. "If I do, I'll have to catch a train in an hour. I'll get
word to you soon again, and if you hear of anything that interests me,
I'll arrange so that a letter or a wire will reach me if you address
it to Marvin Clark, Lake Hotel, Wellsville."

"All right," agreed Ralph.

They strolled together down to the depot a little after that. A train
from the west came in just as the one having Fred for a passenger
steamed out. A familiar figure alighted from one of the coaches.

"Here I am again," announced Zeph Dallas, coming up to Ralph.

"How are your little friends, the Canaries?" inquired the young
engineer.

"Safe and snug at home," replied Zeph. "Going up to the house?"

"Yes, just come in from a special trip, and I probably have a lay-over
till to-morrow. I want to call and see a friend at the hotel for a few
moments. Then I'm at your service."

When they reached the hotel, Ralph sought out Archie Graham, to find
the young inventor in his room, engrossed in putting together some
kind of a mechanical model. The latter greeted Ralph with effusion.

"I'm having the prime chance of my life," declared Archie. "That note
of yours was the open sesame to the roundhouse and everything about
it. The foreman made me as welcome as a friend. I say, Fairbanks, they
think a lot of you, these railroad chums of yours."

"Do they?" asked Ralph, with a modest smile. "I'm glad they do."

"I'll show you results in a few days," declared Archie, with a show
of more enthusiasm than Ralph had ever before seen him exhibit. "I've
got up an invention that will just about revolutionize engineering."

"You don't say so!"

"Yes, I do. Only a day or two, and I'm going to try it--you'll hear
about it, all right."

Ralph did, in fact, hear about it in a very sensational way, and
within a few hours after the interview.

He rejoined Zeph and they proceeded homewards. Zeph was just as
mysterious as ever about his new employment. Ralph knew that he was
bubbling over from a pent-up lot of secrecy, but he did not encourage
his quaint friend to violate an evident confidence reposed in him by
his employer.

Zeph announced that he would like to stay over at the Fairbanks home
until the next day, and was