arked. "Queer go, eh?"

"The strangest I ever heard of," confessed Ralph.

"You see, there's no motive to trace," observed the dispatcher in a
puzzled, baffled way. "Think of the cost of it! Think of the mystery
about the whole affair! What is Dallas up to, and why the spur?"

"I don't know," admitted the young engineer, equally perplexed, "but
I'm going to find out, make sure of that."

Things were certainly focusing around Fordham spur, there was no doubt
of it. That point of the road was a decided point of interest to Ralph
every time the Overland Express neared the spur on succeeding trips.
He could only conjecture that Zeph and the Canaries and others in whom
Zeph was interested, were located somewhere in the vicinity. However,
he caught no sight of any person in the neighborhood of the spur as he
passed it. The thing was getting to be a worry to the young engineer,
but although he daily promised himself he would manage some way to
visit the place, no favorable opportunity presented.

The run to Rockton and back had become harder as cold weather came on.
There was a call for extra vigilance and close attention to routine. A
snowstorm caught them one night on the out run, and Ralph found out
that it was no trifle running with blurred signals among the deep
mountain cuts. A great rain followed, then a freeze up, then another
heavy fall of snow, and the crew of the Overland Express had a
rigorous week of it.

They had made the run to Rockton four hours late on account of a
broken bridge, and the next evening when they reported at the
roundhouse, engineer and fireman found a cancelled trip instead of
readiness for their regular return run to Stanley Junction. The
foreman was busy in his office at the telephone, receiving continual
instructions from the dispatcher. He was sending men and messengers in
every direction. The exigencies of the hour required blockade and
wrecking crews. The foreman looked bothered and worried, and nodded to
Ralph and Fogg in a serious way as there was a lull at the 'phone.

"No run to-night, boys," he announced. "You'd better get back to your
warm beds."

"Blockade on the Mountain Division?" inquired the fireman.

"Worse than that. The whole division is annulled this Side of Fordham,
and that's over half the run. Two bridges down, a freight wreck at
Wayne, and the mountain cuts are choked with drifts. I doubt if you
will break through for a couple of nights."

"H'm," observed Fog