A NIGHT'S WORK ON THE ALKALI PLAINS
I hurried Miss Cullen into the car, and, after bolting the rear door,
took down my Winchester from its rack.
"I'm going forward," I told her, "and will tell my darkies to bolt the
front door: so you'll be as safe in here as in Chicago."
In another minute I was on my front platform. Dropping down between
the two cars, I crept along beside--indeed, half under--Mr. Cullen's
special. After my previous conclusion, my surprise can be judged when
at the farther end I found the two Britishers and Albert Cullen,
standing there in the most exposed position possible. I joined them,
muttering to myself something about Providence and fools.
"Aw," drawled Cullen, "here's Mr. Gordon, just too late for the sport,
by Jove."
"Well," bragged Lord Ralles, "we've had a hand in this deal, Mr.
Superintendent, and haven't been potted. The scoundrels broke for
cover the moment we opened fire."
By this time there were twenty passengers about our group, all of them
asking questions at once, making it difficult to learn just what had
happened; but, so far as I could piece the answers together, the
poker-players' curiosity had been aroused by the long stop, and,
looking out, they had seen a single man with a rifle standing by the
engine. Instantly arming themselves, Lord Ralles let fly both barrels
at him, and in turn was the target for the first four shots I had
heard. The shooting had brought the rest of the robbers tumbling off
the cars, and the captain and Cullen had fired the rest of the shots
at them as they scattered, I didn't stop to hear more, but went
forward to see what the road agents had got away with.
I found the express agent tied hand and foot in the corner of his car,
and, telling a brakeman who had followed me to set him at liberty, I
turned my attention to the safe. That the diversion had not come a
moment too soon was shown by the dynamite cartridge already in place,
and by the fuse that lay on the floor, as if dropped suddenly. But the
safe was intact.
Passing into the mail-car, I found the clerk tied to a post, with a
mail-sack pulled over his head, and the utmost confusion among the
pouches and sorting-compartments, while scattered over the floor were
a great many letters. Setting him at liberty, I asked him if he
could tell whether mail had been taken, and, after a glance at the
confusion, he said he could not know till he had examined.
Having taken stock of the harm done, I began asking questions. Just
after we had left Sanders, two masked men had entered the mail-car,
and while one covered the clerk with a revolver the other had tied
and "sacked" him. Two more had gone forward and done the same to the
express agent. Another had climbed over the tender and ordered the
runner to hold up. All this was regular programme, as I had explained
to Miss Cullen, but here had been a variation which I had never heard
of being done, and of which I couldn't fathom the object. When the
train had been stopped, the man on the tender had ordered the fireman
to dump his fire, and now it was lying in the road-bed and threatening
to burn through the ties; so my first order was to extinguish it,
and my second was to start a new fire and get up steam as quickly as
possible. From all I could learn, there were eight men concerned in
the attempt, and I confess I shook my head in puzzlement why that
number should have allowed themselves to be scared off so easily.
My wonderment grew when I called on the conductor for his tickets.
These showed nothing but two from Albuquerque, one from Laguna, and
four from Coolidge. This latter would have looked hopeful but for the
fact that it was a party of three women and a man. Going back beyond
Lamy didn't give anything, for the conductor was able to account for
every fare as either still in the train or as having got off at some
point. My only conclusion was that the robbers had sneaked onto the
platforms at Sanders; and I gave the crew a good dressing down for
their carelessness. Of course they insisted it was impossible; but
they were bound to do that.
Going back to 97, I got my telegraph instrument, though I thought it
a waste of time, the road agents being always careful to break the
lines. I told a brakeman to climb the pole and cut a wire. While he
was struggling up, Miss Cullen joined me.
"Do you really expect to catch them?"
"I shouldn't like to be one of them," I replied.
"But how can you do it?"
"You could understand better, Miss Cullen, if you knew this country.
You see every bit of water is in use by ranches, and those fellows
can't go more than fifty miles without watering. So we shall have word
of them, wherever they go."
"Line cut, Mr. Gordon," came from overhead at this point, making Miss
Cullen jump with surprise.
"What was that?" she asked.
I explained to her, and after making connections, I called Sanders.
Much to my surprise, the agent responded. I was so astonished that for
a moment I could not believe the fact.
"That is the queerest hold-up of which I ever heard," I remarked to
Miss Cullen.
"Aw, in what respect?" asked Albert Cullen's voice, and, looking up, I
found that he and quite a number of the passengers had joined us.
"The road agents make us dump our fire," I said, "and yet they haven't
cut the wires in either direction. I can't see how they can escape
us."
"What fun!" cried Miss Cullen.
"I don't see what difference either makes in their chance of
escaping," said Lord Ralles.
While he was speaking, I ticked off the news of our being held up, and
asked the agent if there had been any men about Sanders, or if he had
seen any one board the train there. His answer was positive that no
one could have done so, and that settled it as to Sanders. I asked the
same questions of Allantown and Wingate, which were the only places we
had stopped at after leaving Coolidge, getting the same answer. That
eight men could have remained concealed on any of the platforms from
that point was impossible, and I began to suspect magic. Then I called
Coolidge, and told of the holding up, after which I telegraphed the
agent at Navajo Springs to notify the commander at Fort Defiance, for
I suspected the road agents would make for the Navajo reservation.
Finally I called Flagstaff as I had Coolidge, directed that the
authorities be notified of the facts, and ordered an extra to bring
out the sheriff and posse.
"I don't think," said Miss Cullen, "that I am a bit more curious than
most people, but it has nearly made me frantic to have you tick away
on that little machine and hear it tick back, and not understand a
word."
After that I had to tell her what I had said and learned.
"How clever of you to think of counting the tickets and finding out
where people got on and off! I never should have thought of either,"
she said.
"It hasn't helped me much," I laughed, rather grimly, "except to
eliminate every possible clue."
"They probably did steal on at one of the stops," suggested a
passenger.
I shook my head. "There isn't a stick of timber nor a place of
concealment on these alkali plains," I replied, "and it was bright
moonlight till an hour ago. It would be hard enough for one man to
get within a mile of the station without being seen, and it would be
impossible for seven or eight."
"How do you know the number?" asked a passenger.
"I don't," I said. "That's the number the crew think there were; but I
myself don't believe it."
"Why don't you believe the men?" asked Miss Cullen.
"First, because there is always a tendency to magnify, and next,
because the road agents ran away so quickly."
"I counted at least seven," asserted Lord Ralles.
"Well, Lord Ralles," I said, "I don't want to dispute your eyesight,
but if they had been that strong they would never have bolted, and if
you want to lay a bottle of wine, I'll wager that when I catch those
chaps we'll find there weren't more than three or four of them."
"Done!" he snapped.
Leaving the group, I went forward to get the report of the mail agent.
He had put things to right, and told me that, though the mail had
been pretty badly mixed up, only one pouch at worst had been rifled.
This--the one for registered mail--had been cut open, but, as if to
increase the mystery, the letters had been scattered, unopened, about
the car, only three out of the whole being missing, and those very
probably had fallen into the pigeon-holes and would be found on a more
careful search.
I confess I breathed easier to think that the road agents had got away
with nothing, and was so pleased that I went back to the wire to
send the news of it, that the fact might be included in the press
despatches. The moon had set, and it was so dark that I had some
difficulty in finding the pole. When I found it, Miss Cullen was still
standing there. What was more, a man was close beside her, and as I
came up I heard her say, indignantly--
"I will not allow it. It is unfair to take such advantage of me. Take
your arm away, or I shall call for help."
That was enough for me. One step carried my hundred and sixty pounds
over the intervening ground, and, using the momentum of the stride to
help, I put the flat of my hand against the shoulder of the man and
gave him a shove. There are three or four Harvard men who can tell
what that means and they were braced for it, which this fellow wasn't.
He went staggering back as if struck by a cow-catcher, and lay down on
the ground a good fifteen feet away. His having his arm around Miss
Cullen's waist unsteadied her so that she would have fallen too if I
hadn't put my hand against her shoulder. I longed to put it about her,
but by this time I didn't want to please myself, but to do only what I
thought she would wish, and so restrained myself.
Before I had time to finish an apology to Miss Cullen, the fellow was
up on his feet, and came at me with an exclamation of anger. In my
surprise at recognizing the voice as that of Lord Ralles, I almost
neglected to take care of myself; but, though he was quick with his
fists, I caught him by the wrists as he closed, and he had no chance
after that against a fellow of my weight.
"Oh, don't quarrel!" cried Miss Cullen.
Holding him, I said, "Lord Ralles, I overheard what Miss Cullen was
saying, and, supposing some man was insulting her, I acted as I did."
Then I let go of him, and, turning, I continued, "I am very sorry,
Miss Cullen, if I did anything the circumstances did not warrant,"
while cursing myself for my precipitancy and for not thinking that
Miss Cullen would never have been caught in such a plight with a man
unless she had been half willing; for a girl does not merely threaten
to call for help if she really wants aid.
Lord Ralles wasn't much mollified by my explanation. "You're too
much in a hurry, my man," he growled, speaking to me as if I were a
servant. "Be a bit more careful in the future."
I think I should have retorted--for his manner was enough to make a
saint mad--if Miss Cullen hadn't spoken.
"You tried to help me, Mr. Gordon, and I am deeply grateful for that,"
she said. The words look simple enough set down here. But the tone in
which she said them, and the extended hand and the grateful little
squeeze she gave my fingers, all seemed to express so much that I was
more puzzled over them than I was over the robbery.