runningtoward the outlaw to learn the news.
As they drew near Jesse dropped his lantern.
That was the signal for his men to emerge, and to the alarm andastonishment of the train crew, the gang of masked men rushed from theshrubbery toward them.
Jim Cummins and Wood Hite clambered into the cab.
There the plucky engineer and fireman had armed themselves with a monkeywrench and a crowbar.
They attacked the two bandits as they climbed into the cab, dealing themsuch terrible blows that they were knocked down.
Just as the engineer seized the throttle valve to start the cars, DickLittle and Hobbs Kerry rushed up, and aiming their revolvers at thedriver and stoker, the former yelled:
"Throw up your hands!"
"All right!" gasped the engineer.
He knew he had to do it or get shot.
The fireman wanted to resist.
A word from the engineer sufficed to change his mind.
While Dick held them up Hobbs climbed into the cab and pitched the twomen out, so they could not run away with the train.
A swarm of the thieves had approached the passenger coaches under theleadership of Frank, and dividing into several detachments, each partytook a car.
The train only consisted of the locomotive, the express car, two daycoaches and two sleepers.
As the bandits crowded into the doorways they began to fire into thecars to intimidate the passengers.
A tremendous clamor arose.
Women shrieked and fainted, men yelled for mercy, and a wild panicensued that beggars description.
The bandits rushed in in the midst of the confusion, and flourishingtheir knives and pistols in the faces of the terrified passengers, theydemanded their valuables.
Out came pocketbooks, watches, rings, studs, bracelets, lace pins, andscores of other things.
While this was going on, Jesse and several of the men had gone to thedoor of the express car.
It was guarded by an express messenger, and a trainman.
"Open that door!" yelled Jesse.
"Never!" came the determined reply from within. "Never for you!"
"If you don't we'll blow it open!"
"You can't do it!"
"We can't, hey?"
And crack--bang! went Jesse's revolver.
The ball tore a hole through the car.
It was echoed by a fusillade from within.
Crack!
Crack!
Crack!
Crack!
One of the bullets hit Jack Keene, and made him yell with pain.
It infuriated the bandits to have the two men resist them in thatsummary fashion, and they let drive a volley.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang! went the shots.
"There's but a slim show to hit them," said McMillan.
"I'll teach them a lesson!" said Jesse, savagely.
He got several sticks of dynamite, tied them in a bunch, and fastenedthem along the door sill.
Standing back, he aimed his revolver at it and fired.
Boom! thundered the explosive.
There was a lurid gleam, and the stout planks of the door were torn andshattered, and a yell of delight pealed from the bandits, for an openinghad been made into the car.
The force of the explosion had almost hurled the express car from thetracks.
Jesse made a rush for the opening.
He looked like a demon now, for his temper was up.
"Charge!" he yelled.
After him rushed several of the men.
Before they could get into the car, three strange-looking apparitionscame dashing down the track.
They were Jack, Tim and Fritz, in their metal suits.
Losing not an instant, they opened fire upon the bandits, their bulletsflying noiselessly from the pistols, and bursting with terrific forcewhen they struck.
A roar went up from the bandits.
"Jesse!" yelled one of the men.
The bandit king gazed at the three daring fellows in surprise.
Raising his pistol, he aimed and fired at Jack, there sounded a metallicclick as the ball struck the aluminum suit, and then the inventoruttered a mocking laugh.
"Here's your bullet back, Jesse James!" he cried.
Then he fired a shot at the bandit.
CHAPTER IX.A CLEVER RUSE.
The bullet from Jack's pneumatic pistol struck Jesse James, and a hoarseyell of pain escaped the bandit king.
He reeled back and would have fallen, had not Oll Shepard caught him inhis arms.
"I'm wounded!" he gasped.
"Who are they?" hissed Shepard.
"Jack Wright. I recognize his voice."
"There's only three of them."
"But they are firing bomb-shells."
"We'll bring them down!"
He yelled to the gang, and over a score of rifles and pistols were aimedat Jack, the Dutchman, and the sailor.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang! rattled the shots.
A hail of leaden pellets struck the trio.
But their suits shed the bullets as if they were rain drops, and theycontinued to pour a deadly fire into the outlaws.
Every time a bullet burst it either scattered and injured many or elseit lodged in a solitary man and blew a big piece out of him.
It was impossible to withstand such fire.
The worst of it was their bullets failed to injure the three.
As man after man was getting wounded Jesse gasped:
"By heavens, we'll have to retreat!"
"This is awful, and only three of them too!" groaned Bill Chadwell.
"To horse!" roared Jesse.
He had recovered from the shock of the shot he got and the whole gangmade a rush for the bushes firing back at Jack and his friends as theywent.
By this time the train crew recovered from their panic, and those of thepassengers who had weapons drew them and began firing out the windows.
The bandits broke into a run.
"That settles them!" cried Jack. "They see that they can't hurt us,while we stand an excellent chance of killing them."
"Chase 'em! They've got Timberlake yet," said Tim.
The outlaws' horses were concealed among the shrubbery, and they mountedand sped away through the railroad cut.
Jack and his friends ran after them.
The inventor now saw the sheriff.
One of the outlaws held him on a horse.
Jack aimed at the animal and fired a shot.
True to its mark sped the bullet, a wild neigh of agony escaped theanimal, and it bounded high in the air and fell dead, the two ridersbeing thrown to the ground.
The bandit was stunned.
But the sheriff, although pounded and bruised, escaped fatal injury andretained his senses.
"I've saved him!" said Jack.
"Bully fer you, my lad!"
"I vill catch dot oudlaw!"
While Jack was cutting Timberlake's bonds and ungagging him, Tim andFritz secured the bandit.
"Well," said the sheriff, when he was free, "this is luck."
"I see they got away from you at the hollow."
"Yes; I was too confident of beating them."
"What were they doing with you?"
"They already had my death sentence passed, and were going to put me outof the way as soon as they finished that train job. But you have baffledthem nicely."
"Not only with you, but we stopped them getting into the express car. Wearrived just in time."
"Where's the Terror?"
"Up the road, crippled."
"That's a pity!"
"Come back to the train till I see the amount of damage they've done,"said Jack. "Are you hurt any?"
"Scratched and bruised a trifle."
Tim and Fritz went ahead of them, carrying their prisoner, and when theyreached the cars they found two more of the bandits badly wounded in thetrain crew's hands.
All had recovered f
rom the panic by this time.
The conductor now rushed up to Jack, followed by the train crew andpassengers.
He gave the young inventor a hearty handshake, and cried:
"Let me thank you on behalf of all the people and myself for yourgallant conduct, sir. If you had not come to our rescue, God only knowswhat would have become of us at the hands of the James Boys' gang."
"You exaggerate the case," quietly replied Jack.
"No, no, no! Gentlemen, three cheers for these noble fellows!"
"Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah!" shouted the passengers.
Some of them had been robbed.
But the majority escaped, owing to the timely arrival of Jack's partyupon the scene.
Moreover, the contents of the express car had been kept out of theclutches of the bandits.
True, the explosion had slightly injured the two men who had been in thecar, but their condition might have been worse had Jack not interfered.
All the bandits had vanished except the three who had been
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