The Shadow 208 by Maxwell Grant

Author:Maxwell Grant
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

ALONG the dark highway the speeding automobile kept pace easily with the uncoupled locomotive and express car. The man at the wheel was the only person in the automobile.

He pulled a lever with his left hand and the steel scoops above the open turret folded together into a single plate. The plate hinged downward and covered the turret.

The driver peered briefly toward the railroad tracks. A calm, bearded face was disclosed. The driver was Roger Dodd! He tooted his horn as a signal that all was well.

The automobile had been hitting seventy miles an hour. But the burst of speed that came from it now made its previous performance seem like nothing.

In an instant, it had left the express car behind and was abreast of the panting locomotive. It went faster and faster. Broad rubber tires, fat as the balloon tires on an airplane’s landing gear, gripped the concrete road. The locomotive seemed to be sliding backward. And still the car drove faster!

Far ahead, the smooth highway suddenly made a turn to the right. It crossed the railroad tracks and continued on the other side.

The driver of the incredibly fast motor car was aware of this. He headed for the distant crossing with all the power in his machine. His speed rose to one hundred miles, to one hundred and fifty - to two hundred!

Then he cut his power. By the time he came to the crossing, he was still traveling at a fast clip. But not too fast for the turn. He swung his wheel.

Broad tires helped to ease the whistling strain. So did the heavy weight of the black car’s armored body. Before the onrushing locomotive could reach the crossing, the car had cleared the tracks and was increasing its speed on the left side of the right of way.

Trees and bushes intervened between car and locomotive. The darkness and the thick shrubbery hid Roger Dodd’s further progress. The two thugs who were piloting the locomotive didn’t worry about that. They were still obeying Dodd’s orders.

There remained only one last act in this perfect snatch of a million dollars in gold: the escape of the five thugs to the armored automobile and the division of the loot in a prearranged hiding spot.

The leader of the thugs was again glancing at his watch. Suddenly, he climbed to the coal car and fired three shots in the air. The crashing echoes were heard by the crook at the throttle. He began to slow down the locomotive.

It came to a grinding stop in the darkness. Just ahead of it loomed a spidery shape of steel and wood. It was a railroad trestle that spanned a deep gully. The trestle itself was of timber. The supports were steel. They stood ten feet deep in a stream that flowed through the bottom of the gully.

“O.K.!” the thug with the watch yelled to his pal at the throttle. “Take it halfway across! Be sure that the locomotive and the express car are both on the trestle before we scram!”

The thug at the throttle knew his business.

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