CHAPTER XIV
THE BROKEN TRAIN
"What is it?" asked Nat. "Any bad news? Can't you go camping?"
"It's a message from Mr. Gabel, Bill Williams' guardian," replied Jack."He says he has a clue that Bill has gone out to a settlement on the BigHorn River, in Montana, and he wants me to tell him to go back toHickville at once if I see him."
"But you're not likely to, are you? Is the Big Horn River near where weare going?" asked Bony.
"Not very, I guess," answered Jack. "The Big Horn starts in Wyoming, butI rather think the chances are a thousand to one against seeing Bill.Poor chap! He has a hard row to hoe. I wish I could help him, but ifhe's run away I don't see how I can."
"I wish we'd meet him out West," said Sam. "Wouldn't it be a joke if,after all, he could go camping with us and fool his mean old guardian?"
"Oh, what's the use discussing fairy tales?" asked Jack. "Are youfellows all ready? Don't leave anything behind, now."
"I guess we're all here--what there is of us," remarked Bony, crackinghis finger joints.
Just then the whistle of an approaching train was heard.
"Gotchertickets?" asked Budge Rankin, taking in a fresh wad of gum.
"Hu! Do you think I left them until now?" inquired Jack. "I've got allthe tickets. That's our train, fellows. Now we'll say good-by to Dentonfor a while, and live in the wild and woolly West. Here, Budge, you takethat satchel, and I'll tote the dress-suit case. Try and get seatstogether, boys."
A little later they were on the train and being whirled rapidly awayfrom Denton. They had a long journey before them, and as the first partof it contained no features of interest the lads spent all their timediscussing what was before them.
"I want to get a big buck mule deer," remarked Jack as they were talkingabout what kind of game they would be likely to find.
"Me for a big-horn sheep," said Nat. "I want to get the head mounted andput it in my room. Then I'll put my rifle across the horns, and show itto every one who comes in."
"I s'pose you'll tell 'em you shot it, won't you?" asked Bony.
"Of course. I will shoot it."
"You won't if you haven't improved your aim any since we were campingthis summer."
"I can shoot better than you can," retorted Nat.
"Like pie!" exclaimed Bony, discharging a whole volley of knuckle-boneshots.
"Why, you missed that big muskrat you aimed at, the day before Jack andI were kidnapped!" taunted Nat.
"Yes, but you joggled my arm."
"I did not."
"You did so."
"Hold on," interposed Jack in a quiet voice. "All the passengers arelaughing at you two."
"I don't care," replied Nat. "I guess I can shoot as good as he can."
"Oh, I fancy there'll be game enough out there, so if you miss one thingyou can hit another," consoled Sam. "What I want to see are the badlands. Just think of thousands of small sandstone peaks, so much alikethat they look like a stone forest, with sulphur springs here and there,and all sorts of queer-shaped rocks. It must be a great sight!"
"Yes, and it's easy to get lost among those same peaks," added Jack. "Iread of a hunter who went out there, and he was so near camp that hisfriends could hear him shouting, but they couldn't locate him until hebegan to fire his gun, and then they had hard work because of theechoes. We'll have to keep together if we get in such a place as that."
"But there are some woods, aren't there?" asked Bony.
"Sure, woods, mountains, valleys, and all sorts of wild places," saidJack. "I fancy there'll be plenty of snow on the upper peaks, too, butit's likely to be nice and warm down below."
"What do you want to shoot, Budge?" asked Nat, for the gum-chewing youthhad not said much.
"Hu! Guessarabbit'lldome."
"A rabbit," remarked Jack. "Maybe we'll be glad of a good rabbit stew,or one roasted, in case these mighty hunters don't bring down a buck ora bear."
Thus they talked for many miles, until they had to change cars, wherethey took another road leading more directly West. They arrived atChicago the morning after the day on which they had started, and spentsome time in the Windy City. Then they started off again.
"Two days more and we'll be in Wyoming," remarked Jack the nextafternoon, as they were speeding through Iowa. "Then for a good time.Eh, fellows?"
"That's what!" answered Sam. "My, but I'm getting stiff. I'd like to getout and have a ball game."
"So would I," said Nat.
Their train stopped at a small station, and was held there for sometime.
"Wonder what we're waiting for?" ventured Jack. "What's the matter?" heasked of a brakeman who passed through their car at that moment.
"Some block on the line ahead," was the reply. "We'll go in a fewminutes."
There was some fretting among the passengers at the delay, but finallythe train started off again. It proceeded slowly. Then followed somesharp whistles, and finally there sounded a report like a gun.
"It's a hold-up!" cried an excited man.
The boys and all about them leaped to their feet in alarm.
"That's what it is," went on the man. "It's a Wild West hold-up! Betterhide your watches and money."
He began emptying his pockets of his valuables, and was thrusting themunder his seat.
The train had come to a sudden stop.
"Do you s'pose it's train robbers?" asked Bony in some alarm.
"I don't know," answered Jack. "I guess----"
"Where'sthegunsan'we'llshoot'em!" exclaimed Budge, jumping up.
Just then a brakeman ran through the car, carrying a red flag.
"What's the matter? Is it a hold-up? Are they after our money?"
These questions were rapidly fired at him.
"A freight train has broken in two just ahead of us," explained therailroad man. "The engine's disabled," he went on. "We've got to back upto a switch so as to pass it. I've got to go back with a danger flag."
"Oh, dear!" exclaimed a woman. "But who got shot? I'm sure I heard a gungo off."
"That was a torpedo on the track, ma'am," explained the brakeman. "Thefreight crew put it there on a sharp curve, so we wouldn't run into thetail-end of their train. It's all right. There's no danger."
The brakeman hurried down the steps of the last car, in which the boyswere riding, and began to run along the track. When he was about ahundred yards away the train began to back slowly up.
"I wonder how far back we have to go to reach the switch?" asked Jack.
"About two miles," answered a man across the aisle from the lads. "It'snear Mine Brook Station, and it'll take us quite a while to get there."
"Why?" asked Bony. "Can't the train go fast backward?"
"Yes, but the engineer dare not run past the man with the flag. He hasto keep a certain distance in the rear of the last car, to warn anyother trains that may be approaching behind us. So we really can't backup any faster than the brakeman can run. I don't like this delay,either, as I have an important engagement. But something always seems tobe happening on this road. I wish I'd come another route."
There were other grumbling remarks by the various passengers, but theboys were too interested in watching the brakeman to notice them. Thetrain must have gotten too close to him, for it came to a stop, inobedience to a signal on the air whistle, and waited until the man withthe red flag was out of sight around a curve. Then it began to backagain.
This was kept up for some time, and finally the boys saw the brakemancome to a halt and wave his flag in a peculiar manner.
"He's at the switch now," remarked the man who had first spoken to thelads. "We'll soon be on our way again."
The train proceeded more slowly, and then the boys saw where a switchcrossed from one track to another. The rear car was halted some distancefrom the cross-over, and a man came running up from the head end,carrying a key in his hand, with which to unlock the switch. He quicklyturned it, and then began to wave his arm, as a signal for the engineerto back up.
He continued to wave for several seconds, and then heexclaimed:
"He can't see me. Hey!" he called to a group of men on the back platformof the last car, "give him the whistle signal, will you?"
"What?" asked a man.
"Give him the whistle. Blow it three times, so he'll back up. Hurry! Ican't leave this switch."
The men did not seem to know what to do. Some of them began lookinginside the car for the old-fashioned bell cord, that used to run throughthe train to the engineer's cab. This is now displaced by a small redcord at one side of the car, and it operated a whistle connected withthe air-brake system.
"Pull the cord. Give him three whistles, can't you?" cried the man atthe switch. "We can't lay here all day."
"I don't see any whistle," murmured the man who had told the boys aboutthe switch. "Let him come and pull it himself. This is a queer road,where they expect the passengers to help run it."
"Can't some of you pull that whistle cord?" demanded the man. "Hurryup."
Jack heard and understood. He had often seen the brakemen or conductorat the Denton station start the trains by pulling on something under thehood of the car, as they stood on the platform.
"I guess I can do it," he said as he worked his way through the crowd ofpassengers about the door.
He reached up, and his fingers encountered a thin cord. He pulled itslowly, as he had seen the railroad men do, for as the air pressure hadto travel the entire length of the train it required some time, and aquick jerk would not have been effective.
Once, twice, three times Jack pulled the whistle cord, and he heard thehissing of escaping air that told of the signal sounding in thelocomotive cab. An instant later came three blasts from the engine, andthe train began to back up.
"Much obliged to you," called the man at the switch to Jack, as the rearcar passed him. "I'm glad somebody knew how to work it."
"Is that where the whistle cord is?" asked a man. "I was looking for abell cord."
The train backed across the switch, and was soon on another track, andone not blocked by a disabled freight.
"Say," remarked Nat to Jack, "you're getting to be a regular railroadman."
"Well, I'm in a hurry to get out to camp and take the trail," repliedJack. "That's why I'm helping 'em run this road."
Jack Ranger's Gun Club; Or, From Schoolroom to Camp and Trail Page 15