Chapter 8 chapter eight

Irish mail cars raced through the night.Or more accurately he said, flying through the early morning darkness. Every now and then, the train's diesel locomotive uttered an eerie, death-defying siren.It was traveling at over eighty miles an hour.Very punctual. Then, somewhat suddenly, the train braked and slowed.The wheels screeched against the rails.Slower and slower... slower and slower... After the train came to a complete stop, the guard poked his head out of the window and saw the red signal ahead.Some passengers woke up, but most did not. An old woman was awakened by the sudden brake. She opened the door and looked out into the aisle.Not far away, a door opened towards the railroad tracks.Climbing in from the permanent railway was an elderly priest-like figure with a thick mop of white hair.She speculated that he had just climbed off the train and onto the tracks to find out.She felt the cold morning air, and someone at the end of the aisle said, "It's only a signal." So the old woman went back to her compartment to sleep again.

A little farther down the track someone ran towards the train from a signal box, waving a lantern.The fireman climbed down from the locomotive.The guard had disembarked from the train and had come to stand with him.The man with the lantern ran up to him out of breath, panting and saying: "Severe collision ahead... truck derailed..." The engine driver looked out from the cab, then climbed down to join them. At the rear of the train, six people climbed onto the railway embankment and boarded the train through an open door in the last car.Six passengers came to join them from different compartments.With practiced speed they took control of the mail car, isolating it from the rest of the train.Two men wearing large felt helmets held short sticks and guarded the front and back of the carriage respectively.

A man in a railroad uniform walks down the aisle of a stationary train explaining commands to passengers. "The road ahead is blocked. Maybe ten minutes of delay, not much more..." His voice sounded friendly and reassuring. Beside the locomotive, the engine driver and fireman were tightly bound with something gagged in their mouths.The man with the lantern called out: "Everything is going well here." The guards were lying on the side of the embankment, also gagged and bound. The skilled thieves in the mail van have done their job.Two more, more firmly bound bodies lay on the floor.Those special packages were delivered to the embankment outside the car, where other people were waiting to pick them up.

In their respective carriages, passengers complained to each other that the railways were not what they used to be. Soon, as they settled down for bed, there was a roar of exhaust from the darkness. "My God!" a woman exclaimed, "is that a jet?" "Racing! I think so." The roar gradually faded away... Nine miles away on the Bedhampton Highway, a long line of nighttime trucks was winding north.A big white racing car passed them by like lightning. Ten minutes later, it left the highway. The auto repair shop on the corner of the secondary road had a "Closed for Business" sign, but the two gates were opened, the white car drove straight in, and then the gates were closed again.The three worked at lightning speed.A new set of license plates were attached to the car.The driver changed his coat and hat.He started with a white sheepskin coat, now he has a black leather coat.He went out again.Three minutes after he had left, a clergyman chugged up onto the highway in an old Morris Oxford, weaving its way through the many winding country lanes.

A van was driving on a country road, and when it encountered an old Oxford car parked by the bushes, with an old man standing beside it, it slowed down. The driver of the van pokes his head out of the window. "In trouble? Can I help?" "It's very kind of you. My headlights are broken." The two drivers came together - and listened. "Danger removed." Many expensive American boxes were transferred from Oxfords to dual-purpose vehicles. After a mile or two, the two-purpose vehicle turned onto a rough road.But it's actually the back road that leads to a gorgeous mansion - and that's quickly proven.In a shed that had once been a stable was parked a big white Mercedes.The driver of the van opened the trunk of the sedan with a key, transferred the suitcase into the trunk, and drove off in the van again.

On a nearby farm, a rooster crowed noisily.