JIM TAKES A CHANCE
As Sheehan mounted the coal, he caught a glimpse of one of the
desperadoes on top of the car and yelled to Ketchel and Jim who jumped
just in the nick of time, and by sheer luck not uncommon in battles,
escaped unhurt. As for the fireman he took a novel way of making his
escape, by diving into the shelving bank of coal and letting it slide
over him. In the excitement of the flurry of firing he was able to do
this.
Jim and Ketchel both leaped from the same side of the engine and were
protected by a slight cut alongside of the track. Bullets whirred and
cut into the dirt around them. As they ran both of them sent a shot at
the man on the near side of the blind baggage, with such good effect
that he pitched to the ground with an injured leg.
"Duck low, Jim," yelled the engineer; "we will beat them yet. I've got a
scheme."
"I'm with you," replied Jim.
This was literally true, for he was right at the heels of the scurrying
Bob. As they passed the barricade of stones, Ketchel gave it a quick,
searching look, then in a few strides they got to cover in a culvert a
number of yards in front of the pile of stone. By the help of a few ties
they made a respectable fort.
"So far, so well," said Ketchel, "but it won't do to stay here very
long, for they will loot the train."
"Nearly the whole gang is down there," cried Jim, "I can tell by the
firing."
"We've got to clear that barricade off the track and quick, too,"
declared the engineer. "It's our only hope."
"Those stones are pretty heavy to lift off under fire," said Jim
composedly, "but I guess we can make a go of it."
"I like your nerve," said Ketchel, a gleam of admiration showing for an
instant in his usually noncommittal face, "but I've got something here,
that will help us in this hoisting business," and he thrust his hand
into one of the pockets of his overalls.
"What is it?" queried Jim.
"Dynamite," replied the engineer, producing a small chunk of the same to
view.
"Won't it blow up the engine, too?" asked Jim.
"Not likely with this amount," said Ketchel. "We will have to chance it
anyhow."
"Ain't you afraid that you might take a chaw on it, by mistake for your
tobacco?" queried Jim in a matter-of-fact voice. Bob Ketchel only
grinned by way of reply.
"Now is our chance," whispered the engineer; "keep the beggars lying low
while I start the fireworks."
"I'll attend to that," replied Jim briefly and with emphasis.
Then two crouching figures slipped out from the culvert, and Jim kept on
the move with the quick dodging motions of a boxer so that the enemy in
ambush could not get a bead on him. Flashing the fire of his revolver
this side and that at a cluster of rock, or a clump of bushes he dodged
on, and such was his accuracy that not a man in the attacking party
dared show himself in the open.
Jim was able to keep down their fire, as his ally rushed to the
barricade; then Ketchel stooped down and thrust the dynamite into an
opening between the rocks and drawing off quickly threw himself flat
down by the track. Then there came an upheaval that shook things. A
geyser of rocks shot into the air, and in a jiffy Jim and the engineer
had cleared off what remained on the track in the shape of debris. The
engine itself had most of the cowcatcher torn off and the headlight
smashed.
"Spoiled her beauty for you," said Jim. "But we will spoil their game I
guess, and I don't think the railroad company will complain at the loss
of a cowcatcher." Meantime both had raced back to the engine.
Before the gang had time to fully realize what had happened, Ketchel had
regained his place in the cab and had turned the engine loose on the
sanded rails. Within a remarkably short distance he had her full speed
ahead, with a parting salute of shots from the enraged and baffled "hold
ups."
"There goes three of 'em," cried Jim, who had swung aboard. "My what a
jump."
They shot from the rear of the train like projectiles from a catapult,
rolling over and over down a steep embankment. Two got up very slowly
but the third lay as if dead.
"Where's Sheehan?" cried the engineer; "we haven't lost him I hope."
"Gosh! he's in the coal!" exclaimed Jim.
He leaped into the tender and saw a movement under the coal. Working
frantically, Jim was able to drag their submerged ally from the retreat
that had almost buried him. The cold air brought him to, and he rose
staggeringly to his feet.
"Yer started your thrain too suddint, Mr. Ketchel, and pulled two ton of
coal over my poor head," cried the fireman in half humorous indignation.
"Why didn't you whistle and give me fair warning as to your intentions.
And how did you lads escape without bullets in your hides. Yer must have
charmed lives the both of you."
"How many of 'em did you get, Bill," yelled back the engineer from his
cab.
"Aye, there is many of them that will carry black marks the rest of
their lives, where I handed them some chunks of coal."
"The company will take it out of your salary for wasting their coal,"
remarked Ketchel.
"And shure and they ain't none too good to do it," remarked Bill Sheehan
with conviction.
"Get in, Bill, and throw what coal you have got left into that boiler;
we have got to make the siding this side of the Divide to get out of the
way of 'The Eastern Express.' That little fracas back there cost us
fifteen minutes."
"And half a ton of coal," said the fireman, as he bent his back to the
work of shoveling, looking for all the world like a black gnome.
"I wonder what has happened to the passengers," said Jim to the
engineer; "there seemed to be a lot going on back there the last five
minutes of the fight."
"I can't slow up, Jim," responded the engineer, "because we have got to
make that siding."
"I don't expect you to, Bob," replied Jim, "I'll go over the roofs. I
can make it if those open air burglars did."
"It's durn risky," warned the engineer; "we are speeding now, and the
train is twisting so it will sure throw you on some of the curves."
"I've ridden a few bronchos in my time," declared Jim, "and been aloft
in some heavy seas and I guess I can manage this."
Self-confidence is all right but pride often goes before destruction and
Jim came very near getting his on this occasion.
"And where do you think you are going, lad?" asked Bill Sheehan, as Jim
started on his climb over the tender.
"I'm going back to see how many of the passengers have been scared to
death and why some of those guys in the sleepers didn't turn out and
help us to fight off those bandits back there."
"Oh, them are tenderfeet from way back the other side of the range, they
was too busy hiding behind their women folks to fight," declared the
fireman, "but you ain't going on no such trip young feller." He made a
dive for Jim but that worthy was not to be detained and was half way up
the little iron ladder before Bill Sheehan had recovered his balance.
"Come back," he cried, poising a bit of coal in his hand, "or I'll
bring you back." This bluff did not disturb Jim who was now on top of
the baggage car.
"Just like a young limb," he muttered, as he watched the daring James.
"I'd have done the same twenty years ago."
Jim crawled or sneaked his way along the elevated part of the roof, so
that he could clutch one side or the other in case of need. The train
was now winding through a narrow gulch in a line of hills and a fierce
wind tore at his body as though trying to fling him loose. He felt that
it was more than he had bargained for, as the grimy roof slipped this
way and that under him, then there came a sudden lurch and he was lifted
clear off the top of the car and one hand was wrenched loose, and in a
second his feet were hanging over the side.
His other hand caught the steel rod that opens one of the small windows
in the elevated roof of the car. Would it hold? On its strength depended
his only chance of life. He drew himself up slowly with every ounce of
his strength. The rod bent but held and once more he was back on the
roof. So he took his perilous way along and at last he reached the
foreward coach. The door was guarded and he came near being shot by the
suspicious conductor, who took him for one of the bandits.