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Holmes and Watson are hired by Ronald Carstairs and his mother Lady Margaret to protect the Star of Rhodesia diamond on a train trip from London to Scotland. Also on the train is Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard, providing official protection for the jewel. Watson arrives late for the train, bringing with him a member of his club, Major Duncan-Bleek. While Holmes, Watson and Duncan-Bleek are dining, Carstairs is murdered and the diamond stolen. Holmes examines a coffin in the baggage carriage; the coffin carries the body of the mother of Vivian Vedder, one of the passengers. Holmes discovers a secret compartment in the coffin, large enough to hold a man. When questioned, Vedder admits that she was paid to transport the coffin. Holmes admits that he had previously swapped the real diamond for a copy: he gives the real diamond to Lestrade for safe keeping. Holmes and Watson return to the baggage carriage and find the conductor murdered by a poison dart. Duncan-Bleek is joined by Sands, the murderer who had previously hidden in the coffin; Duncan-Bleek tells him that Lestrade has the jewel and instructs him to obtain it. Sands knocks Lestrade unconscious and steals the diamond, but he is murdered by Duncan-Bleek in the process. The train picks up a group of policemen. Holmes informs them that Duncan-Bleek is really Moran. Moran is arrested and the diamond discovered. Just as he is about to be taken off the train, Moran steals a policeman's gun; the lights in the carriage go off and there is a scuffle. When the lights come on, Moran is being led from the train with a jacket over his head. Holmes tells Watson that the police were Moran's accomplices. He goes on to say that Moran is handcuffed under the table, and that the false policemen had taken Lestrade, who later arrests the men.