Nick had strode across the car and seated himself on a packing case, one of several that evidently had been shipped by express and which occupied one side of the car. He noticed that the door of a safe in one corner was closed, and the handle indicated that the safe was properly locked and the combination scattered. He felt reasonably sure that he could, with the help of Dan Cady and Chick, foil and arrest any gang that would attempt the robbery. The clanging of the locomotive bell told that the train was about to start. Passengers on the platform scampered toward the cars from which they had emerged. “So long, Cady!” cried Denny, while he hastened toward the tower stairs. Cady responded with a gesture and then closed and secured the door of the express car. A backward jolt, a jangling of bumpers and couplings, a furious hissing of steam, followed by the labored puffing of the locomotive, and the train made way and the lonely junction with its platform and the signal tower were quickly left behind, grim and silent in the twilight of the starry night. Nick Carter then lost no time in explaining the situation, the outcome of which was far from what he expected, yet what no mortal man could have anticipated. “Now, Cady, I’ll put you wise to what’s in the wind,” said he, rising from the case on which he was seated. “Here is the letter from President Burdick that will tell you who I am, and a word will explain why I am here.” Cady opened the letter and read it, then gazed more sharply at the detective. “Well, say, this is some surprise,” he said bluntly. “I did not dream that you were Nick Carter, though I knew you were in the employ of the road. Do you suspect something wrong to-night, Mr. Carter, that you have boarded my car in this way?” “More than suspect,” Nick replied. “You are carrying a money package of sixty thousand dollars, aren’t you?” “Yes, Mr. Carter, I am.” “Where is it?” “Locked in the safe, sir, of course.” “Very good,” Nick nodded. “It will be up to you and me, Cady, to prevent a bunch of bandits from removing it from the safe. Not only to prevent them, Cady, but also to corner and arrest them. Are you game for such an undertaking?” Cady continued to look Nick straight in the eye. “Game, sir!” he exclaimed. “You bet I’m game. If they get that money, Mr. Carter, they’ll get it over my dead body. But why do you suspect anything of the kind?” Nick briefly informed him, and the bearded face of the express-car man took on a more serious expression. “So you got wise to all that from the two telegrams?” he said inquiringly. “Exactly,” Nick nodded. “You’re a keen man, Mr. Carter.” “Not at all, Mr. Cady. It’s a part of my business to detect such things when they come my way.” “What other steps have you taken to prevent this job?” “None of importance,” Nick said evasively. “I think that you and I, Cady, will be able to prevent it.”