The Shadow - 66 - Doom on the Hill by Maxwell Grant

Author:Maxwell Grant [Grant, Maxwell]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Street & Smith
Published: 1934-10-31T23:00:00+00:00

Gave you a good boost, Nubin. Said you’d once worked for the B and R, but changed to the Union Valley. Told him you were on the ladder - but I didn’t say whether you were going up or down.”

“More wise-cracks, eh? Well, if that yap with the tin star asks you anything more, tell him I came in on the Limited tonight and went out on the milk.”

“You’re taking Sixty-two?” questioned Hoyler, referring to the Dairy Express.

“Yeah,” replied Nubin, “and if you keep an eye out, I’ll show you how neat I can get aboard. Stick here on the platform when Sixty-two pulls out.”

One of the waiting-room windows was open. Peering eyes were looking in from the blackness. Keen ears were listening. The Shadow had chosen this post; yet neither Hoyler nor Nubin was aware of the fact. Agent and detective were making for the platform; already, the whistle of the Dairy Express was blaring for the crossing of the hill road.

“Going back to a milk route, eh?” laughed Hoyler, as Nubin started to cut across the tracks. “Well, riding Sixty-two is better than driving a horse and wagon.”

Nubin made no response to this jest. He disappeared beyond a freight car on the siding. Hoyler turned to watch the approaching glare of the Dairy Express as the train came grinding down the rails.

THE train was a heavy one. The wheels of the big Mogul spun when the locomotive started forward after the brief stop. Zach Hoyler remained on the platform, watching the long line of black milk cars move slowly by. As the rear of the train was nearing, a figure sprang outward from between two cars. Perry Nubin waved a good-bye to the station agent.

Hoyler watched the train curve around the nearby bend, its speed still low. He walked back into the station, to close up for the night. He did not see two events which took place outside.

The first concerned Perry Nubin. It was something that Hoyler could not possibly have observed, because of the intervening bend. Three hundred yards up the track, the railroad dick dropped from his perch and landed sprawling beside the right of way. He crouched there until the train had passed; then lingered, planning to return toward the station after the agent had gone.

The second occurrence was one that Hoyler might have witnessed had he been outside the station. From the darkness beside the waiting-room window, a spectral figure moved across the platform. For a few brief moments, lights showed the vague outline of The Shadow. Then the phantom shape merged with the darkness. The Shadow had headed along the tracks in the direction from which the Dairy Express had come.

Shortly afterward, the station was blotted out by darkness. Zach Hoyler had started for town in his old roadster. No one was near the station. Perry Nubin had approached; then made a short cut over toward the road. The Shadow was far along the track.

Later, a light glimmered in the old shack halfway to the grade crossing.

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