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182 long enough to permit her hurriedly to change from her proper dress to a suit of Marrophat's; how she had finally managed to wriggle out of the broken window without being injured; how her father had welcomed her and taken her donning that attire in earnest of her vow to him never again to weaken in the business he required of her; how the freight, pausing at the siding, had afforded her an opportunity to board it unseen—the very train upon which her enemies now rested in fancied security!

And already she had a plan …

Conning it, she hugged herself in malicious glee, blinding herself deliberately to the hideous business that might attend her success, forcing herself to remember one thing only—the pledge she had renewed on her knees to her father.

The whistle of a locomotive overtaking the freight sounded the signal for her to take action. Rising, she glanced out of the open door. A curve in the track below the freight, labouring slowly up a steep grade, enabled her to catch a glimpse of a headlight followed by a string of lighted windows—the special, beyond a doubt.

Without hesitation, since the train was not running at speed, she dropped out to the ballast, wheeled about, caught the hand-bar at the end of the box-car as it passed, and swung herself up between it and the caboose. Climbing to the top of the box-car, she