N yards. To get to the rear of the second boxcar, hijackers would have had to approach from one side of the track or the other and been plainly visible.'
'The entire trip being made during daylight?' I queried.
'It was planned that way.'
Holmes rose suddenly and took a turn around the room, going over the matter with his quicksilver mind. Then he returned to the mantle and gazed moodily into the hearth fire. 'You might well take a shot at the newspaper game should banking ever bore you. You've described the matter far better than the journals.'
'With more information,' replied Frisbee modestly.
'What happened?' I asked, on tenterhooks.
'The bullion train was two hours outside of London and on an upgrade when suddenly smoke bombs were thrust through the slits in the riflemen's cubicle. They were blinded by the fumes and so choked that they could not even shout for help.'
'And there being but one exit from their position, they were trapped within.' The banker nodded in agreement with Holmes' remark, and the sleuth threw me a glance.
'Static warfare. Ineffective in modern times, Watson. The old feudal castles served their purpose but are antiquated now as is the entire enclave theory.'
'But we're not discussing a military campaign,' I remonstrated.
'The defense of the train was planned like one, and I would say the robbery had overtones of army tactics as well. In any case, we have the guard
'None,' replied the banker. 'Whoever used the smoke bombs, and it had to be more than one person, effectively jammed the half-door leading into the armored cubicle and went about their business.'
'Which was?' queried Holmes.
'They disengaged the rear boxcar from the train.'
'You mentioned that this happened on an upgrade. The train continued up the slope and the boxcar rolled back down the track in the opposite direction.'
'Fiendishly clever, wasn't it?' said Frisbee. 'At the foot of the grade there was a stretch of level ground and an unused spur line. The boxcar rolled along until it came to the spur, which the thieves had switched. It then followed the feeder track until it came to a stop of its own volition some distance from the main line. There were marks of a wagon and horses there, and obviously they transferred the gold from the boxcar and made their escape.'
'Aided, I judge,' mused Holmes, 'by the fact that it took some time to discover how they made use of the abandoned spur line.'
'That did slow up the pursuit,' said Frisbee. 'As soon as the robbery was made known to the engine driver and fireman, the locomotive went into reverse and there were signals all up and down the line. By the time they reached the station between the scene of the robbery and London, it was obvious that the missing boxcar had not come that way. Then someone recalled the old spur line, and the local constables, augmented by railway police, hurried back to it. By that time the wagon and the hijackers were long gone. Neighboring villages were alerted but nothing came of it.'
Holmes had taken his cherrywood from the mantle and stuffed it with shag. Now he ignited it and puffed furiously. 'Anyone,' he said finally, 'who could plan a theft so meticulously would not leave the disposition of the loot to chance.'
He resumed his seat in the cane-back, gazing into the embers of the hearth fire. 'See how they chose the place to strike. An upgrade, which would slow down the engine, but more important, bring the law of gravity into play. The rate of acceleration of the stolen boxcar had to be judged carefully. Too fast and it would derail itself. Too slow and it might not gain the momentum to carry it to the spur line and beyond. You did indicate that the railway car was found some distance from the main line, did you not?' he asked of Frisbee.
The banker nodded.
Holmes laid aside his pipe, and I sensed that he would embark on one of the recapitulations that he found so helpful. I was right. 'Two men at least reached the roof of the first boxcar. You mentioned smoke bombs, so I assume they were thrust through the rifle slots of the mobile blockhouse simultaneously and from both sides.'
Again Frisbee agreed.
'With the riflemen temporarily out of action, they made their way to the rear of the boxcar and lowered themselves to disengage their prize from the rest of the train. Having uncoupled the connection, no difficult feat, they were now rolling downgrade with the freed bullion carrier. What would have been their next move?'
Frisbee had a ready answer. 'An iron ladder would allow them to gain the roof. It seems likely that they used it to arrive above the sliding door to the boxcar. One must have lowered the other down the side of the moving car to attack the door's fastening.'
'By what means?' queried the sleuth.
'Cold chisel.'
'Which requires a hammer. Which indicates two free hands, so the man was lowered by rope.'
'I would think so,' stated Frisbee. 'By the time the boxcar had rolled off the main line, the job was probably complete and they were ready to unload.'
'Aided by the third man,' said Holmes.
'Where did he come from?' I asked.
Holmes patiently explained. 'As soon as the treasure train passed the spur line, someone had to be there to activate the switch so the boxcar would leave the main line on its return trip. Then the third man closed the switch and took after the boxcar, on foot, I would imagine. By the time the boxcar came to a stop, the third man was available to aid in the unloading. One does not move a half million in gold in but a moment.'
'Might there not have been more robbers involved?' I asked. It seemed a reasonable question.
'Not it I were planning it,' said Holmes. 'The more tongues, the more talk.'
Again I blessed providence that my friend had not been born with a larcenous twist in his great brain. Had this been so, surely he would have made the infamous exploits of the late Professor Moriarty seem like something out of
Frisbee was eyeing my friend shrewdly. 'Inspector Stanley Hopkins was rushed to the scene from the Yard.'
Holmes smiled. 'Our friend Lestrade will be much put out I'm sure.'
Frisbee continued: 'Hopkins followed your line of thought regarding a member of the gang being positioned close to the spur line. He investigated that section closely but found no marks of a bicycle or horse.'
'Then we can assume one of the thieves was fleet of foot.' The detective's next question surprised me. 'What was the original purpose of the spur line?'
'To service a tin mine that petered out a number of years ago.'
'The boxcar came to a stop near the end of track?'
'Quite close to it.' Frisbee let a silence grow, and then his eyes narrowed as he posed the key question. 'What do you think?'
'I can give you a one-sentence summation,' replied Holmes. 'It is a pity that the security methods of the Birmingham and Northern were not planned as carefully as the robbery.'
'Had they been, I would not be here,' stated the banker laconically.
Holmes shook his head. 'I fear your visit, as welcome as it is, has been for naught.'
'We must talk of that.'
'To no avail,' said Holmes, and there was a note of finality in his voice. 'You stated that you had heard of our encounter'—his eyes flashed to me for a brief moment—'with Alvidon Daniel Chasseur of the B & N. As a result of it, I vowed to have nothing to do with his stolen bullion.'
'It's not really his problem,' stated Frisbee. 'Or his bullion either. Chasseur took on this gold transfer with an eye to future business. Shipments of special cargo. That's a nautical expression, but it has come to have meaning with land transportation as well. If the thing had worked smoothly, his armored-train idea might have caught on in other fields. However, that much gold in one place incurred a risk, so he took a policy on the shipment with our Inter-Ocean insurance division. If the gold isn't recovered, we stand to lose half a million pounds, the face value of our short-term coverage.'
Holmes' manner had changed with Frisbee's words, but he stood by his guns, albeit in a less dogmatic
