“Wait a moment, Mr. Carlton,” said Ralph, holding the excited man by the sleeve. “Do you remember if the supervisor’s daughter was one of your passengers to-night?” “Supervisor Hopkins’ girl?” exclaimed Carlton. “Why, yes, she was. I mind seeing her father’s pass, viséed by him for her use. Yes, she came with us from Shelby Junction.” “So I understood,” said Ralph. “Have you seen her since the accident?” “Why, I—No, I haven’t, Fairbanks!” Ralph followed Carlton back through the train. Most of the women were gathered in one car. Carlton asked briskly if any of them had seen Miss Cherry, Supervisor Hopkins’ daughter. Several of the women remembered the girl. “She was not hurt. I am sure of that,” said one woman whose arm was in a sling, “for she helped bandage my arm. Then, it seems to me, she ran out of the car to see what was going on. I have not seen her since.” Nobody else remembered having seen her since soon after the wreck. Carlton, the conductor, had done all he could to aid Ralph in his quest. The latter was forced to go back to his own train without finding the supervisor’s daughter. One thing that he had learned, however, quieted the young fellow’s anxiety. It seemed quite sure that Cherry had not been hurt when Number 33 left the track. If she could help her fellow passengers after the accident, she was in no need of attention herself. His relief was not so great, however, as he desired. He had not seen and spoken with the girl. Three hours later, when he finally got his train to Hammerfest, he wired the man he knew would be in charge of the train dispatching at Rockton, this question: “Find out for me secretly if Miss Hopkins has arrived with other passengers of wrecked 33.” Before he pulled out of Hammerfest on the return trip the answer to his question was handed up to him by the local telegraph operator: “No. Hop. is crazy. What do you know? Girl disappeared at scene of wreck.” CHAPTER XXVII WHERE IS CHERRY? The responsibilities of the driver of a Class-A train such as Ralph Fairbanks conducted are not to be belittled. His mind must be given to the running of his locomotive, and that first of all, no matter what else may happen. Death or disaster must not swerve the engineer from his immediate duty. The express back to Rockton was now the young fellow’s charge. When he arrived at the scene of the morning wreck the eastbound way was clear again and he had to drive right on. With all his heart he desired to stop the locomotive, desert it, and make personal search about the neighborhood for some trace of the supervisor’s daughter. What could have happened to Cherry Hopkins? She surely had not been injured at the time of the wreck. Then what had become of her after she had run out of the car to view the wreckage closer?