"Good, I think; but time alone will disclose that. But please dress as quickly as you can, for you will have to go on a journey immediately. I have taken the liberty of ordering something for you to eat, and it should be here in a minute or two. You have just half an hour in which to catch the train you must travel by." "What is the news?" asked Gilbert, going on dressing all the while. "Well, last night, after I left you, I went to my office, late as it was, and I found one of my subordinates waiting for me. It was the man whose duty it was to shadow Russell. He reported that he had kept sight of him until he went into his own house. My man then hung about, and after some time, a conveyance drove up, into which presently Russell, his wife and child got. He followed them to the railway depot, and finally saw them depart in the Northern Pacific Express for Winnipeg." "Gone!" exclaimed Gilbert; "and with a start of half-a-day! And James Russell leaves St. Paul the very day I arrive. That's curious. Had he got warning? But how?" "Perhaps he saw you in the streets yesterday--you were about a good deal, were you not?" "Yes; that may be it." "It does not matter much, anyhow; the fact remains that he went away last night." "And I must go after him at once. That's what you mean?" "That's part of it; but there is more to tell you, much more. For, this morning, about forty minutes ago--oh, I lost no time, you will perceive--one of my men who has to be on duty all night at my office, came to my house and woke me up. He was aware Russell was on board the Northern Pacific Express going to Winnipeg last night, and he had come hot-foot to show me an early edition of the _Pioneer Press_--that's our leading paper--in which there is a long account of a dreadful accident to this very express. It had collided with a freight train, both trains being wrecked and smashed to pieces. Many of the passengers have been killed, and most of the survivors are badly injured." "And Russell?" Gilbert inquired breathlessly. "He is not in the list of the dead; his name appears amongst those whose injuries are probably fatal. This is why I am hurrying you up. If you wish to see him alive, you must catch the first train. Now, do you see? Was not my knocking you up in this way justified?" "Yes, indeed. I am grateful to you for your zeal. How far up the line was the accident?" "A few miles south of Glyndon. You can be there in a comparatively short time." "I think I should like you to come with me," said Gilbert, after a brief silence; "that is, if you are disengaged." "I can manage to come all right, and I should like to know the end; though it's possible the man may recover. On the other hand, if he knows he is certain to die, there's just a chance he may be willing to own up and make restitution, if that's in his power." "A death-bed confession! Now, I should say," remarked Gilbert, "Russell is the last man on earth to make one."