"Maxwell Grant - The Shadow - 095 - Death Rides the Skyway" - читать интересную книгу автора (Grant Maxwell)

hundred and fifty miles east of Falko. All passengers would still be aboard at the next stop.

The Shadow seated himself by a window near the rear of the car. He rang for the porter and ordered
refreshments, then leaned back in his cushioned chair and smiled slightly as he stared at the blackness
beyond the shatter-proof window pane.

IT was long after midnight. Some passengers must have stayed up in order to leave the train at Falko; but
they were gone and all others had retired. Except for the porter, The Shadow was alone in this rear unit
of the streamlined limited. His thoughts were concerned with the time that lay ahead.

A conductor entered the club car. He spied the tall passenger whom the porter was serving and
approached to collect tickets. The Shadow produced a wallet, extracted a stack of currency and paid his
fare from Falko to Chicago. The Pullman conductor arrived during the process; he prepared a receipt
and assigned the new passenger to lower Berth 4, Car 2.

The conductors took seats opposite The Shadow. They began to check off the tickets that they had
collected. Forgetting the passenger who was dining across the aisle, they entered into a discussion that
concerned the very fact that The Shadow had noticed - the reduced speed of the Typhoon.
"Five hours from Falko into Ridgley," grumbled the railway conductor. "That's no better than the Eastern
Limited used to do along this stretch of pike."

"Only one hundred and fifty miles," observed the Pullman conductor. "It ought to be clipped to two hours
flat. This windjammer could do it."

"Not quite. The grades would slack us a bit. But right at present it's the curves. We can't hit them at top
speed."

"When is the road going to bank them heavier?"

"They can't touch that stretch over the rise," the railroad man declared emphatically. "Not a chance of
changing it. The pike was laid for heavy hauls and that's how it will stay. Let's see" - the railroad
conductor paused to speculate - "forty-five miles to the K and R junction - that could be stepped up a
bit.

"But from the Junction into Ridgley, the freights have it tough enough as is. That traffic still has rights, even
though we're trying to compete with airplanes. Any monkeying with the curves would play hob with the
freights."

"How about picking a new right of way?"

"Couldn't be done. There's one bet, though." The railroad conductor leaned forward and spoke
confidentially. "You know the old K and R, don't you? Cuts off from the junction, goes through Altamont
and terminates at Ridgley?" The Pullman conductor nodded.

"Well, there's a rumor about," stated the railroad conductor. "I heard it for the first time when I was in
Frisco yesterday. They say the Mountain Pacific is looking to buy up the K and R."

"To use it for a freight line?"

"No, for passenger service. There's going to be fortunes made out of high speed trains like this one. If the