"_Bon_--the agent he is leaving." Barry looked ahead, to see a man crossing an expanse of flat country toward what was evidently a boarding house.

Ba'tiste nudged him.
"You will walk slowly, as though going into the station to loaf.
Ba'tiste will come behind--and keep watch." Barry obeyed.

A moment more and he was within the converted box car, to find it deserted and silent, except for the constant clackle of the telegraph key, rattling off the business of a mountain railroad system, like some garrulous old woman, to any one who would listen.

There was no private office, only a railing and a counter, which Barry crossed easily.

A slight crunching of gravel sounded without.