He succeeded in showing the due amount of interest and no more, and was
diplomatic enough not to suggest that the murderers were now on their
way to San Francisco. He took the train going East according to
schedule, and found Darcy playing poker in the smoking car. Collins
betook himself to his pipe at the other end of the car, glad that night
had come, and that he would soon bid farewell to the Sierras. He felt
the train swing round the horse-shoe curve through Blue Canon, and
shortly afterward he noticed that they had entered the snow sheds, which
for forty-five miles tunnel the snow drifts of winter, and which in
summer lie like a huge serpent across the summit of the mountains. Once
out of the sheds they would speed down the valley from Truckee into
Nevada.
The fugitives were well over the line before they took any notice of
each other. Except for themselves the smoker was now empty, and they had
prepared to spend the night there like honest miners who were down on
their luck.
Collins remarked in an undertone:
"Darcy, we have given them the royal sneak."
"Know what I've been thinking?" replied Darcy. "I've been thinking of
that wise remark of Ben Franklin's when he signed the Declaration of
Independence.
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