No ticket for New York had been sold that morning. Then the policeman said that it was possible he might have been mistaken as to the time. It might have been on the previous day he saw the man and his invalid sister. "Do you know that they took the New York train?" questioned Dyke. "No; I'm not positive about that, either. You might telegraph ahead and find if such a couple is on the train." This was a wise suggestion. Dyke acted upon it, but failed to derive any satisfaction. And there was good reason for this, since when leaving Chicago a dark man, with smooth face and gray-tinged hair, accompanied Nell Darrel; whereas, before reaching the borders of New York State, the place of this man had been taken by a man with red beard and hair, blue glasses, and a well-worn silk plug. 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. Nevertheless, Dyke Darrel preserved a hopeful heart, in spite of the terrible anxiety that oppressed him. The woman who had but a few days before been released from prison was destined to complicate matters and bring about startling and unexpected meetings, as the future will reveal. When night fell Dyke Darrel found himself yet hundreds of miles from the goal of his hopes and fears. CHAPTER XXIV. A RACE FOR LIFE. As may be supposed, Professor Ruggles was deeply stunned at the coup de main that had deprived him of his fair charge. Who had robbed him? This was the question that at once suggested itself to his mind, and he found it not difficult to frame an answer, although, until this moment, he had supposed that Madge Scarlet was still in prison. "It must be her," he muttered, as he gazed madly at the vacant seat.