midnight
Leaving Nell and Mr. Elliston together , Dyke Darrel hastened to the station . He was aware that a train would pass in ten minutes , and he wished to enter Chicago and make an examination for himself . The detective 's home was on one of the many roads crossing Illinois , and entering the Garden City -- about an hour 's ride from the Gotham of the West . In less than two hours after reading the notice of the crime on the midnight express . Dyke Darrel was in Chicago . He visited the body of the murdered messenger , and made a brief examination . It was at once evident to Darrel , that Nicholson had made a desperate fight for life , but that he had been overpowered by a superior force .