midnight
`` All aboard ! '' shouted the conductor , a little later , and soon the train was speeding northward at a rapid rate . Dyke Darrel went into the rear car , and sat down to meditate on his adventure . He realized that his death had been planned by enemies to law and order , and he believed by the ones who were anxious to throw him off the trail of the outlaws who perpetrated the crime on the midnight express a few nights before . It did not seem possible that the man who had attempted to throw him from the train , and had gone over himself , had escaped unharmed . Doubtless , though badly hurt , he had managed to drag himself away from the immediate vicinity of the track , where he had remained secreted until the brief search was over . Since his fall was unexpected , it was not likely that any of the villain 's friends were in the vicinity , and so it might be an easy matter to trace the outlaw .