THE SECRET OF

THE SILVER CAR

WYNDHAM MARTYN

IS ALSO THE AUTHOR OF

"ANTHONY TRENT, MASTER CRIMINAL"

"ALL THE WORLD TO NOTHING"

"THE MAN OUTSIDE"

THE SECRET OF

THE SILVER CAR

FURTHER ADVENTURES OF ANTHONY

TRENT, MASTER CRIMINAL

BY

WYNDHAM MARTYN

AUTHOR OF

THE MAN OUTSIDE; ALL THE WORLD TO NOTHING;

ANTHONY TRENT, MASTER CRIMINAL; ETC.

NEW YORK

MOFFAT, YARD AND COMPANY

1920

COPYRIGHT, 1920

BY MOFFAT, YARD & COMPANY

THEIR FATHER

DEDICATES THESE FURTHER

ADVENTURES OF ANTHONY TRENT TO

PHYLLIS AND CYNTHIA

BUT NOT WITHOUT A GUILTY FEELING THAT THERE

MUST HAVE BEEN SOMETHING

LACKING

IN THE ETHICAL TRAINING OF THESE

ESTIMABLE CHILDREN

SINCE THEY TAKE SUCH INTEREST IN THE

CAREER

OF A MASTER CRIMINAL

CONTENTS

Chapter One

THE PUZZLING PASSENGER

"Stop him," the second officer yelled, "he's going to jump overboard!"

The man who dashed past him and through a group of passengers waving hands at friends on the deck below, was too quick for those who sought to stay him. He balanced himself for a moment on the rail and then jumped ten feet down to the pier.

The gangplanks had already been withdrawn and the great liner bound for New York was too mighty a piece of momentum to pause now. Furthermore her commander was going down the river on a favoring tide and nothing short of a signal from the port authorities would have made him put back for a passenger who had chosen such a singular moment for a leap into the dark.

An hour or so later in the smoking room the disappearance was discussed with fervor. A collar manufacturer of Troy, named Colliver, was holding his group for the reason he had been standing by the rail when the young man jumped and had even sought to restrain him.

"He was too quick for me," Colliver declared. "I surely thought he'd hurt himself jumping ten feet down."

"What did he do after he jumped?" a man demanded.

"Picked himself up and looked around as if he expected to see someone. The last I saw of him was going from group to group of people asking something I couldn't hear."

"Very mysterious," another passenger commented. "I don't believe he was crazy. I believe he jumped off just at the right moment—for him. I believe we shall find he took some loot with him. The purser is making an investigation now."

"I've got a theory," another smoker asserted. "I was just going to ask him for a light when he began that run down the deck to the rail and believe me he can sprint. Just as I was about to open my mouth I saw his face suddenly change. Evidently he had seen or heard something that frightened him."

"So he ran away from danger?" Colliver added. "That might be. I tell