He figured the man was going to reassure the passengers that nothing was wrong and that the halt was only temporary. Since he was in charge, more than likely, he had already figured out some plausible story to explain it. Bertram left, too, and Luke had no doubt he was going to supervise the transfer of the strongboxes full of gold to the caboose. Left alone in the caboose with McCluskey, Luke considered what was about to happen. He could understand the logic of the plan. Secrecy was the goal, and loading the strongboxes into the locomotive’s cab while it was in the roundhouse had accomplished that. The gold had probably been delivered to the roundhouse in the dead of night. It seemed like it would have been simpler to leave the strongboxes in the cab, rather than going through the business of stopping the train and carrying them back to the caboose, but after a few minutes of thought, he had that figured out, as well. The locomotive wasn’t going all the way to Cheyenne. It would stop at the junction with the Union Pacific.
