ach, that the conductor
became aware of the prostrate man on the floor and Morris and other
passengers gathering around him in excitement and solicitude. Ralph
ventured across the platform near to the door of the passenger coach.

Bartlett, seemingly unconscious, was lifted to a seat. He soon opened
his eyes, but feigned intense pain in his side, and acted the injured
man to perfection. He began to explain, pointing to the floor. The
conductor investigated. Ralph saw him draw a long brass screw into
sight.

"A clever game," murmured the young fireman. "What a rascal the fellow
is! He is laying the foundation for a damage suit."

Morris made himself busy, taking the names of witnesses. When the
train stopped, Bartlett had to be almost lifted from the coach. Ralph
alighted, too, and kept in the shadow. As soon as the train left,
Bartlett was able to walk about unassisted.

The little town they had arrived at was dark and silent, and the two
men met no one as they proceeded down its principal street. Then they
turned to the south and walked a distance of about a mile. There was a
kind of a grove lining the railroad. At its center they reached a
lonely hut.

"Open up, there!" shouted Bartlett, pounding on its door with a stick
he had picked up.

A light soon showed through the cracks of the board shutters.

"Who is there?" demanded a voice from the inside.

"Bartlett."

"All right--come in."

"Gasper Farrington," murmured Ralph, as he recognized the occupant of
the hut.

It was the magnate of Stanley Junction, still disguised, just as he
had been the last night Ralph had seen him at the home of Jim Evans.
The three men disappeared within the house. Ralph approached and went
cautiously about the place. He could not find a single point where he
could look into the hut.

The young fireman felt that it was very important that he should learn
what was going on within the house. He at length discovered a way of
gaining access to at least one part of it. This was at the rear where
a high stack of old hay stood. It almost touched the hut, and its top
was very near to a sashless aperture in the attic.

Ralph scaled the stack with some difficulty and reached its top. In
another moment he was inside the attic. It was low, the rafters were
few and far between, and, as he crept over these, they began to sway
and creak in an alarming way.

"This won't do at all," murmured the youth in some dismay, for it
seemed that o