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?" she asked.
"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.
"This 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 answers. 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 rights, 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.