Page:Weird Tales Volume 10 Number 6 (1927-12).djvu/113

 woman, sleeping, and again, what we saw, we could not feel! And the three of us made the rounds, and every berth, upper and lower, was occupied by a man, woman, or child. And we came back to berth seven and stood there staring at the sleeper.

"And while we stood there, the door opened at the end of the car, and a thin little man who wore a conductor's blue suit with brass buttons walked in and looked nervously around. He had the attitude as of being summoned, and looking for whoever had summoned him."

"Not so, Mr. McCarthy. The conductor had a premonition that all was not well and he came into the Pullman to justify or destroy that premonition." It was the little man, the newcomer, who had spoken. But no one seemed to have heard him.

"But we didn't stare very much longer," continued the man with the gold spectacles. "For suddenly the thin little conductor that had entered, vanished in the side of the Pullman car, and when we turned back to look at the sleepers we saw only the unrumpled spreads on our beds!

"Immediately the conductor rushed out onto the rear platform. Mr. Schweers and I followed him. We were going round the famous Horseshoe Curve. The country was all radiant in the bright moonlight.

"The conductor turned to us. 'Do either of you know what happened here at this spot one year ago today?' 'No,' said Schweers, 'I can't think of anything.' I, too, was forced to shake my head. 'What?' returned the conductor; 'have both of you forgotten the famous Midnight Express wreck of last August 7?' Of course we hadn't. 'It happened on that spot just a little way back there in the moonlight, on a night just like this. Seventy-seven people died in that wreck. This car is one that was salvaged from the wreckage and was rebuilt. This is its first trip in its rebuilt form.' 'But the people in the berths?' interrupted Schweers. 'Yes, those people in the berths. You noticed they all disappeared on the spot of the accident. Didn't they? Well, figure it out for yourselves, gentlemen.' And with that he went back to his post.

"And that's what I say to you, gentlemen, figure it all out for yourselves. Were those sleepers, or weren't they? For my part I am convinced."

There was a meditative silence. Then the man with the gold spectacles spoke again.

"By the way, didn't one of you gentlemen say something about a premonition the phantom conductor had? I thought someone said something about it, but as I recollect the accident the conductor was killed at once, so you couldn't possible know how he felt before the accident. Didn't anyone say something?"

And all of the men turned to the fifth chair upon which the thin, little man in the faded blue conductor's suit with brass buttons had been sitting. There was no answer.

And the firelight flickered on the bolt of the locked door.