GUARDING THE MAIL TRAIN
MAJOR DAVIS backed quickly out of the car, holding his weapon behind his
back as he dropped to the ground beside the car.
He did not look to see whether the rookies were behind him, but they
were.
Ahead, and about them, all was black, save for the light that came
through the car windows.
In a twinkling, out of the fringe of darkness, almost beside the
recruits, stepped a masked man.
"Back, all three of you. Back into the car!" called the masked man
sharply.
Major Davis wheeled like a flash, bringing his revolver to bear. But he
could not use it. A sudden move of the recruits prevented.
"Noll!" called Hal sharply, and threw himself to the ground before the
masked ruffian.
Like a flash Hal wrapped his arms around the knees of the masked robber.
In almost the same instant Hal struggled to his feet, carrying the
unknown's legs up with him.
Of course the ruffian toppled over backward. But Noll, who had darted to
his chum's aid, hurled himself upon the fellow, striking him hard three
times between the eyes.
The masked man's revolver was discharged as he toppled over backward,
but the bullet sped harmlessly off into the night.
In another second Hal had the fellow's revolver.
"Fix him, Noll!" called Private Overton, darting forward to the
officer's side.
"I have, already," muttered Noll. But he bent for an instant over the
unconscious ruffian's body, then darted forward.
"Here's his box of cartridges, Hal," panted Noll.
All this had seemed to occupy but a few seconds.
"Splendidly done!" glowed Major Davis. "Now come forward, and support
me."
At the moment of the discharge of the pistol the uncoupled engine
started forward, away from the train, with a hissing of steam. This
noise must have drowned out the noise of the single shot from the train
robbers up forward.
Suddenly Major Davis shot out his left arm, and Hal, bumping against it,
halted beside the officer.
"There are two of the men, standing by the mail car," whispered the
major. "Raise your revolver. Ready! Fire!"
[Illustration: "Back, All Three of You!"]
Both the major's revolver and Hal's spat out jets of flame. Both poured
their shots in rapidly at the two men whom they could just make out in
the darkness ahead.
Then Hal had a sudden, new sensation, not by any means agreeable.
The two men, neither hit so far, turned and raised their own weapons. It
seemed like two bright cascades of flame just ahead, as the ruffians
fired, kneeling.
Bullets whistled close to the major and the two recruits on either side.
Then, just as suddenly, one of the ruffians toppled over; it was
impossible to tell whether Major Davis or Hal Overton had scored the
hit.
Thereupon, the other man, lowering his weapon, leaped for the steps of
the mail car and vanished.
Major Davis ran forward, followed by both recruits. Noll was intent on
getting a revolver for himself.
But Davis, more accustomed to the ways of fighting men, suddenly
crouched low, peering under the body of the car just behind the mail
coach.
Almost immediately the major began to fire again, in answer to shots
that came from underneath the car.
But Noll waited for nothing. His sole thought was to possess a weapon.
He halted over the fallen one, snatched an empty revolver from his side,
then saw that the man was wounded in the right breast.
"You must have some cartridges," muttered Noll, rummaging in the
fellow's clothes.
He found the box just in time.
"Lie down, you two!" called Major Davis sharply to Hal and Noll. "You'll
be fired on from ahead."
Hal threw himself flat, and none too soon, for now a gust of bullets
swept down from the head of the train.
As coolly as he could Hal Overton reloaded. Noll, also lying flat on the
ground, was similarly engaged.
Hal was ready to fire first. There was need of it, too, for he could
dimly make out two men, near the extreme head of the train, who were
firing rapidly and firing their weapons in a fashion that drove up
spurts of dirt all about the recruits.
For a few seconds the fight seemed as serious to those engaged in it as
battle on a larger scale could have been.
Major Davis now made the first direct move. He crawled swiftly under the
car, putting himself on the same side with the man he was after.
There was more shooting on the other side of the train; then, suddenly
it stopped.
The two ahead, who were engaging Hal and Noll, dodged off to the side of
the track into the darkness. Now, all firing stopped, for all weapons
were empty.
"I hope that other scoundrel didn't get the major!" throbbed Hal
anxiously.
Yet he couldn't go to see. He had his own work on this side of the
train.
"Where are our pair?" whispered Noll, creeping closer.
"I don't know," Hal answered, also in a whisper. "But crawl off a little
way. Bunching together gives 'em a better mark to hit."
Lying flat on the ground, both recruits played the waiting game.
Had the pair ahead stolen off altogether in the darkness?
"I'll wait a few moments," Hal decided. "Then, if I don't hear from the
scoundrels, I'll cross over to see what has happened to Major Davis."
Crack! crack! crack! The vanished pair of train robbers were opening
fire again, from behind a boulder that sheltered them admirably. Hal and
Noll had no protection other than they could get from lying close to the
ground. But they answered the fire briskly.
Crack! crack! crack! As fast as revolvers were emptied the marksmen
reloaded and again began firing. In daylight the execution would have
been swifter, but all hits made in black darkness are made by the grace
of luck.
In the first place the only target anyone in the combat had was the
flash of an opponent's pistol.
The train robbers behind the ledge changed their positions after nearly
every shot. And Hal and Noll, after the warm, uncomfortable experience
of having bullets fan their faces persistently, found it advisable to
crouch low and dart here and there, firing from new positions.
All this time the scores of people on the train were sitting in
terrified silence. Passengers or train crews rarely interfere in a case
of this kind.
Not even the train's lights aided either side, for the two young
recruits had taken pains to close in on the ledge sufficiently to escape
illumination by the train's lights.
Crack! crack! crack! This was a new note, coming from past the forward
end of the ledge.
Almost in the same instant a howl sounded from behind the barrier of
rock.
Then another voice was heard, shouting.
"Hold on! We surrender! Stop the shooting!"
Instantly this hail was answered by another. It sounded good to the
young recruits as Major Davis roared from behind the forward end of the
ledge:
"Then throw up your hands, keep them up, and walk into the train light
where we can see you."
"You won't shoot?" demanded the voice of the surrendering one.
"Not unless you attempt tricks," replied the voice of Major Davis.
"All right. Here I come."
A lone figure rose over the edge of the ledge, and a tall, masked man,
holding his hands very high, strode toward the train, passing between
Hal and Noll, who instantly turned and covered him with their weapons.
"Where's the other man?" demanded Major Davis, still invisible in the
blackness beyond.
"You'll find him behind the ledge," returned the surrendered one. "He's
hurt too bad to move."
"Overton," called the major, "keep your weapon trained right on that
prisoner. Terry, join me behind the ledge."
"Yes, sir," answered both recruits.
Noll was quickly with the major on the further side of the ledge. Here
they speedily found a masked man, short and rather thick-set, who had
the appearance of being unconscious. He was breathing with great effort,
a deep crimson spot appearing on his right breast.
"May I ask, sir, about the man you went under the train to get?" queried
Noll.
"He's dead, my man," replied Major Davis very quietly.
"Shall I try to lift this man, sir?"
"No; take his revolver, and search him for other weapons, as far as you
can do so without disturbing the fellow and putting him in more pain.
We'll let that hiding train crew move the casualties to the baggage
car."
So Noll completed his search, while the conductor, baggage-master and
some of the brakemen, noting that the firing had stopped, ventured
forth.
"You trainmen take care of the dead and wounded," directed Major Davis
crisply. "Terry, rejoin your comrade. I shall have to trouble you two
men to stand guard over the prisoners in the baggage car until we reach
Salida."
Both recruits saluted. Noll returned to the track in time to find that
the first man whom he and Hal had bowled over was just coming back to
his senses.