switched to the express track, the messenger
was found lying on the floor of the car with a bullet through his head.
The safe had been blown open and its contents rifled.

The express company had kept silent about the murder and robbery until
late in the day, when the body of the messenger was found by a reporter
in an undertaker's establishment.

As for the other details, a policeman at the Union Station said that he
had noticed a man come out of the waiting room carrying a grip that
seemed more than ordinarily heavy. A red motor car was waiting outside
the station, and the man got into it and drove away at a fast pace. The
policeman had not noticed the number on the car.

How the robber and murderer got into the express car was a mystery, as
the car was locked when it was switched into the express track, and
there were no marks of a violent entry on the outside of the car.

"What aire yer goin' ter do erbout it?" asked Bud. "Aire yer goin' ter
turn over ther motor car an' give yer infermation ter ther police?"

"Not on your life," answered Ted. "At least, not yet. I'm going to work
on it a bit myself first."

"But won't Mr. Truax tip it off?"

"I'll warn him not to."

"But how erbout ther feller in ther check suit what wuz so kind an'
attentive ter us?"

"He's hiding out, now that the robbery has become public. I'm not afraid
of him."

"What's ther first move?"

"Locate and identify the car."

Ted called Mr. Truax up on the telephone. The commission merchant had
read about the express robbery, and had connected the man in the red car
with it, but promised to say nothing about it until Ted had had an
opportunity to unravel the mystery.

Ted lay awake a long time that night thinking the matter over, and in
the morning awoke with a plan in his mind.

"Well, hev yer determined what ter do erbout ther red car?" asked Bud at
the breakfast table. "I'm shore gittin' sore at myself fer a loafer,
sittin' eround here doin' nothin' but eat an' look at ther things in
ther stores what I can't buy."

"I've got a scheme that I'm going to try," answered Ted.

"What is it?"

"I'm going to run that car all over this town until I get some of the
train-robbing syndicate anxious about it and to following it. Then I'm
going to get on to their place of doing business and their methods."

"Wish yer luck," was Bud's cheerless comment.

Bud had been out wandering restlessly around the streets all morning,
and Ted was wr