ation, and to Kenyon
Junction with instructions that the line be examined instantly as far
as Barton Moss." The answer from Manchester came within a few minutes.

"No news of missing special. Driver and guard of slow train positive
no accident between Kenyon Junction and Barton Moss. Line quite clear,
and no sign of anything unusual.--Manchester."

"That driver and guard will have to go," said Mr. Bland, grimly.
"There has been a wreck and they have missed it. The special has
obviously run off the metals without disturbing the line--how it could
have done so passes my comprehension--but so it must be, and we shall
have a wire from Kenyon or Barton Moss presently to say that they have
found her at the bottom of an embankment."

But Mr. Bland's prophecy was not destined to be fulfilled. Half an hour
passed, and then there arrived the following message from the
station-master of Kenyon Junction--

"There are no traces of the missing special. It is quite certain that
she passed here, and that she did not arrive at Barton Moss. We have
detached engine from goods train, and I have myself ridden down the
line, but all is clear, and there is no sign of any accident."

Mr. Bland tore his hair in his perplexity.

"This is rank lunacy, Hood!" he cried. "Does a train vanish into thin
air in England in broad daylight? The thing is preposterous. An
engine, a tender, two carriages, a van, five human beings--and all lost
on a straight line of railway! Unless we get something positive within
the next hour I'll take Inspector Collins, and go down myself."

And then at last something positive did occur. It took the shape of
another telegram from Kenyon Junction.

"Regret to report that the dead body of John Slater, driver of the
special train, has just been found among the gorse bushes at a point
two and a quarter miles from the Junction. Had fallen from his engine,
pitched down the embankment, and rolled among the bushes. Injuries to
his head, from the fall, appear to be cause of death. Ground has now
been carefully examined, and there is no trace of the missing train."

The country was, as has already been stated, in the throes of a
political crisis, and the attention of the public was further
distracted by the important and sensational developments in Paris,
where a huge scandal threatened to destroy the Government and to wreck
the reputations of many of the leading men in France. The papers were
full of these