The older federal agent went to the telephone and after a lengthy conversation with the hotel clerk, secured the desired information. “The telegraph office at the railroad station is open from eight o’clock in the morning to five o’clock in the evening. The phone exchange, which seems to be pretty much of a one horse affair, closes at nine o’clock in the evening. If anything happens after that you’ll have to get the operator out of bed in order to get a call through. I’m making my headquarters here. Let me know the minute anything turns up.” “I’ll do that,” promised Bob, who, while he could not exactly warm up to Condon Adams, felt sure that the older man would bend every effort toward the recovery of his uncle. “I’ll let you know where I can be reached in Atalissa so you can get news to me the minute Uncle Merritt is found.” Condon Adams glanced at his wrist watch. “You haven’t much time to lose if you’re going to make that southbound local.” Bob looked at his own watch. It was 2:45 o’clock. He closed his Gladstone bag and tightened the straps. Condon Adams walked ahead of him into the hall and then as far as the elevator. “Don’t take too many chances, Bob, and keep your chin up. This thing is going to come out all right.” Chapter XXVI “DON’T MOVE!” ★ Bob wished that he could feel the confidence of Condon Adams’ words as he stepped into the elevator and dropped toward the main floor. At the desk he turned in his room key and then took a taxi to the same station where earlier in the night, in company with Condon Adams, he had captured two of the suspected gem smugglers. The young federal agent purchased his ticket for Atalissa and the agent cautioned him about the change at the junction. Then Bob picked up his bag and walked through the now practically deserted waiting room and out into the train shed where a stubby, three car train was waiting for the final call of “booo-ard” to start its jerking journey southward. An express car and a combination baggage and mail car were behind the engine while the rear car was a dimly lighted coach. Bob climbed up the steps. The seats were of green plush, and halfway up the interior of the car was a wooden partition which marked the forward end of the coach as the smoking compartment. There were only two people in the rear half and Bob turned one seat over so a double seat would be available. Then he stuck his ticket in his hat band, folded up his corduroy coat for a pillow, and curled up to make the best of the lonely trip to Atalissa. The federal agent had dropped into a light sleep when the train started. He roused up long enough to hear it roll over a bridge and then he went back to sleep, failing to hear the conductor when he removed the ticket from the band of his hat.