o
regular, their progress so even, that one could with ease step from the
footboard of the one to the footboard of the other but for the horrible
suction which would inevitably draw the person attempting it down under
the wheels.

"Well, something had to be devised to overcome the danger of that
suction. But what? I asked myself, for I guessed from the first how the
escape had occurred, and I knew that such a thing absolutely required
the assistance of a confederate. That meant that the confederate would
have to do, on the 5.18, exactly what they had trapped Stavornell into
doing on the other train: that is, secure a private compartment, so that
when the time came for the escape to be accomplished he could remove the
electric bulbs from the roof of his compartment, open the door, and,
when the two came abreast, the assassin could do the same on the other
train, and presto! the dead man would be alone. But what to use to
overcome the danger of that horrible suction?"

"Ah, I see now what you were driving at when you inquired about the
ironing-board or the Indian canoe. The necessary sections to construct a
sort of bridge could be packed in either?"

"Yes. But they chose a simple plan, the cutting-table. A good move that.
Its breadth minimised the peril of the suction; only, of course, it
would have to be pulled up afterward, to leave no clue, and the added
space would call for enormous strength to overcome the power of that
suction; and enormous strength meant a powerful man. The rest you can
put together without being told, Mr. Narkom. When that little vixen
finished her man, she put out the lights, opened the door (deliberately
locking it after her to make the thing more baffling), crossed over on
that table, was helped into the other compartment by Murchison, and then
as expeditiously as possible slipped on the loose feminine outer
garments she carried with her in the brown portmanteau, the table was
hauled up and taken in--nothing but wire rope for that, sir--and the
thing was done.

"Murchison, of course, purchased two tickets, so that they might pass
the barrier at the Low Level unquestioned when they left, but he wasn't
able to get the extra ticket clipped at London Bridge because there was
no passenger for it. That's how I got on to the little game! For the
rest, they planned well. Those two trains being always packed, nobody
could see the escape from the one to the other, because people would be
standing up