tle, and it was
answered. Three men appeared from the side of the track, spoke to him,
bounded up on to the oil car, and crouched down so near to Ralph that
he could almost touch them.

Woods stood on the next track with his lantern as if waiting for the
train to start up.

"Cars marked," he spoke. "I'll flash the glim when the coast is clear.
You'll know the cases I told you about."

There was no response. The locomotive whistled, and the brakeman ran
back to the caboose. Ralph lay perfectly still. The three men sat up
against the railing of the car.

"Got the keys to the car ventilators?" asked one of the men, finally.

"Sure," was the response. "Say, fellows, we want to be wary. This is a
clever game of ours, but I hear that the railroad company is watching
out pretty close."

"Oh, they can't reach us," declared another voice, "with Woods taking
care of the broken seals, and all kinds of duplicate keys, we can
puzzle them right along."

Just then one of them arose to his feet. He stumbled heavily over
Ralph.

"Hello!" he yelled, "who is this?"

CHAPTER XXIX

A PRISONER

The three men almost instantly confronted Ralph, and one of them
seized him, holding him firmly.

Ralph quickly decided on his course of action. He yawned in the face
of the speaker and drawled sleepily:

"What are you waking a fellow up for?"

One held Ralph, another lit a match. They were rough, but shrewd
fellows. Instantly one of them said:

"Disguised!" and he pulled off Ralph's false moustache. "That means a
spy. Fellows, how can we tell Woods?"

"S--sh!" warned a companion--"no names. Now, young fellow, who are
you?"

But "young fellow" was gone! In a flash Ralph comprehended that he was
in a bad fix, his usefulness on the scene gone. In a twinkling he had
jerked free from the grasp of the man who held him, had sprung to the
platform of the oil car and thence to the roof of the next box car.

Almost immediately his recent captor was after him. It was now for
Ralph a race to the engine and his friend Barton.

The running boards were covered with sleet and as slippery as glass,
yet Ralph forged ahead. He could hear the short gasps for breath of a
determined pursuer directly behind him.

"Got you!" said a quick voice. Its owner stumbled, his head struck the
young fireman and Ralph was driven from the running board.

He was going at such a momentum that in no way could he check himself,
but slid diagonally acro