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220 found that the contract was to run to Fordham spur and back to Brampton."

"But what for?" inquired Ralph.

"To deliver some special freight presumably," said the dispatcher. "At first I wondered if things mightn't be stirring up in a new business way at the old factory. Thought maybe they were going to do some blasting, and Dallas had been hired to run through a load of giant powder. Well, I was off in my guess."

"How did you find that out?" asked Ralph.

"I caught the Brampton outfit on the return trip. She had to switch here for an hour to get the right of way north. I went over to the siding and happened to know the engineer."

"And where was Zeph?"

"They left him up at the spur."

"H'm," commented Ralph, feeling that Zeph was indeed enveloping himself in a dense mist of mystery.

"The engineer just grinned and haw-hawed when I asked him about his run. He said that Dallas had acted like a fellow on the most serious business, the whole run through. When they got to the spur he had them run in about two hundred feet. Then he sat down by the side of the track, watch in hand, solemnly waited for an hour to