He yelled furiously.
The sheriff sprang at him like a tiger.
“Shut up!” he hissed, grappling the bandit.
“A spy! A spy!” howled the guard, wildly.
He clung to the sheriff with all his might, and they fell struggling to the ground, locked in a tight embrace.
Jack was startled.
He heard the gang rushing toward them.
“Can you manage him?” he panted.
“Yes–run!” replied the sheriff.
Thinking he might have to call his friends to help, Jack slipped away unseen, and Timberlake might have gained the mastery of his opponent, had not the gang at that moment dashed up to them.
Surrounding him, they attacked the sheriff upon all sides, and in a twinkling made a prisoner of him.
He was knocked senseless, bound and gagged.
As soon as Jack found that the sheriff was not following him, he paused.
“I wonder if he’s in trouble?” he muttered. “I can’t go on this way. No! I’ll return and see.”
With this resolution he retraced his steps.
Reaching the spot where he had left Timberlake, he found that the sheriff had vanished.
Looking across the hollow, Jack saw the bandits mounting their horses.
He could just see them by the light of the camp-fire.
A moment afterward they went galloping out of the hollow, and he saw Timberlake a prisoner among them.
“They’ve captured him!” he muttered.
Jack’s dismay increased.
He could not do anything single handed to save his friend, so he hurried back to the electric stage.
“Hello!” called Tim, seeing him alone. “Whar’s ther sheriff?”
“Caught by the James Boys,” replied Jack.
“Ach du lieber Gott!” gasped Fritz.
Jack hastily got aboard.
“We must chase them!” he exclaimed.
“Wuz them lubbers down in that ‘ere holler?” asked Tim.
“Yes–the whole gang,” replied Jack.
“Den dot feller by horses back vos van ohf dem?”
“He was, Fritz, and a nice plot they have formed.”
“Wot is it?” asked Tim.
The inventor briefly explained.
When he finished he sent the stage ahead.
Tim and Fritz armed themselves, to be prepared for trouble, and they sped along the course of the creek.
Nothing was seen of the bandits for some time.
They had gone several miles in this manner from the place where Timberlake was captured, when the moon suddenly burst from behind a cloud bank.
Just then Jack uttered a stifled cry.
“There they are!” he exclaimed.
“Whar?” eagerly asked Tim, peering out.
“Across the creek! See there!”
He pointed to the eastward and stopped the Terror.
A league away rode a large body of horsemen, and as Jack leveled a glass at them, he saw that there was no mistake about the matter–they were the James Boys’ gang.
“How ve get across dot streams ter shase dem?” asked Fritz.
“That’s what worried me,” replied Jack. “I can’t see a means anywhere. It’s bound to delay us. Before we can do anything for Timberlake, they may kill him.”
“Ay, ay, an’ wot’s more,” added Tim, “they may reach ther railroad an’ stop them cars afore we kin stop them.”
“What a pity that I did not have a pair of air cylinders under this stage!” regretfully said Jack. “We could then have floated her across the stream.”
He noted the direction the bandits were pursuing, and sent the Terror running along again.
Tim and Fritz maintained an anxious lookout in the meantime for an opportunity of getting over the creek.
*
CHAPTER VIII.
HOLDING UP A TRAIN.
“Midnight!”
“Dere vos der roat.”
“Ay, but whar’s the bandits?”
The Inventor had been obliged to run the Terror to the headwaters of the creek ere they were able to pass the stream.
Considerable time had thus been lost.
Indeed, it was twelve o’clock before they reached the railroad track at a point between Polo and Cowgill.
“The question is, has the train passed?” said Jack.
“Ve ditn’d seen nodding ohf her yet,” replied Fritz.
“Ay, but that ain’t no sign as it didn’t pass,” growled Tim, as he took a chew of tobacco. “I recollect when I wuz in the navy how we started fer ther rendezvous o’ a enemy’s ship—”
“I won’t listen!” exclaimed Jack, with a frown.
“Waal, I’ll tell Fritz,” said Tim, in nowise abashed. “Yer see it wuz sich a dark night we missed ther spot, which was a lagoon, on the coast o’ Georgie—”
“Try ub!” roared Fritz.
“I’ll be blowed if I will!”
“I don’d vant ter hear dot yarn.”
“I don’t keer if yer don’t. Ter continer: But although we missed ther lagoon in ther gloom, an runned inter a leetle bay, our enemy did ther same. Thar we had him. Gee whiz, how we socked it ter him! He sailed aroun’ and aroun’ ther bay, an’ we arter him. I manned ther long Tom, an’ pickin’ ‘em out one by one, I gave it ter each o’ ther crew—”
“For Heaven’s sake, stop!” cried Jack.
“Wot fer?”
“How could you see in the dark?”
“Why, every time I fired ther moon popped out, an’ as soon as I stopped it hid itself agin,” explained Tim, “Waal, sir, arter ther crew o’ that ship surrendered, wot d’yer s’pose?”
“Ve don’t vos tink noddings!” roared Fritz.
“But I wants yer ter, I’ll tell yer. We diskivered as ther ship wot we wuz firin’ at wazn’t no enemies wessel at all. It wuz our own consort, an’—”
“Oh, you old liar! You positively asserted it was your enemy—”
“But I wuz mistooken. I—”
Bang!
A startling report rang out.
It came from beneath the stage.
The Terror stopped.
“By jingo, she’s broken!” gasped Jack.
“How?” asked Tim, forgetting his yarn.
“It must be in the truck.”
“Himmel! How ve go ahet now ter safe dot drain?”
Jack alighted.
He quickly examined the gear.
“It’s one of the driving rods snapped in two!” he cried, finally.
“Kin ye fix it, my lad?”
“I don’t know till I take it off. We are crippled.”
He got a wrench and unfastened the bolts, took off the two pieces, and then saw that the rim of one of the wheels had picked up a long stone which flew around with it.
It jammed between the body of the stage and one of the spokes, and the sudden shock had caused the rod to snap.
Just as Jack examined it, he heard the distant tooting of a locomotive whistle, momentarily drawing nearer.
“Here comes the express now!” he exclaimed.
“Kin yer git her ready in time?”
“No. It will take an hour to fix this.”
“Donner und blitzen! Dey holt her ub!”
“No doubt of it.”
“We must do somethin’, my lad.”
“Arm yourselves, if you’re anxious. Don your metal suits. We’ll follow the train. She must be nearing the curve to whistle like that. Hurry up, and we’ll leave the Terror here.”
They all put on suits of aluminum mail and armed themselves.
Then they ran at full speed along the track in the direction from whence the whistle sounded.
The moon was then flooding the scene.
Far ahead the polished rails described a curve in a wide, deep cut, filled with trees and shrubbery.
In the middle of the north-bound track stood Jesse James waving a re
d lantern to an oncoming train, the headlight of which was blazing upon the bandit king with a silvery glow.
Jesse had a black mask on, and clutched a revolver in his hand.
None of the men were visible.
The train had slackened speed to round the curve, and as soon as the engineer saw the danger signal he stopped the cars.
“Hello!” he cried, “What’s the matter?”
“Rail broken!” replied Jesse, approaching the cab.
“Here comes the conductor.”
“I’ll speak to him about it. Come down.”
“Can’t. It’s against the rules for me to leave the caboose.”
The conductor and several brakemen had alighted and now came running toward 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 and astonishment of the train crew, the gang of masked men rushed from the shrubbery toward them.
Jim Cummins and Wood Hite clambered into the cab.
There the plucky engineer and fireman had armed themselves with a monkey wrench and a crowbar.
They attacked the two bandits as they climbed into the cab, dealing them such terrible blows that they were knocked down.
Just as the engineer seized the throttle valve to start the cars, Dick Little and Hobbs Kerry rushed up, and aiming their revolvers at the driver 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 two men out, so they could not run away with the train.
A swarm of the thieves had approached the passenger coaches under the leadership of Frank, and dividing into several detachments, each party took a car.
The train only consisted of the locomotive, the express car, two day coaches and two sleepers.
As the bandits crowded into the doorways they began to fire into the cars to intimidate the passengers.
A tremendous clamor arose.
Women shrieked and fainted, men yelled for mercy, and a wild panic ensued that beggars description.
The bandits rushed in in the midst of the confusion, and flourishing their knives and pistols in the faces of the terrified passengers, they demanded their valuables.
Out came pocketbooks, watches, rings, studs, bracelets, lace pins, and scores of other things.
While this was going on, Jesse and several of the men had gone to the door 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 that summary 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 fastened them 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 and shattered, and a yell of delight pealed from the bandits, for an opening had been made into the car.
The force of the explosion had almost hurled the express car from the tracks.
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 apparitions came 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 bullets flying noiselessly from the pistols, and bursting with terrific force when 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 metallic click as the ball struck the aluminum suit, and then the inventor uttered 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 hoarse yell of pain escaped the bandit king.
He reeled back and would have fallen, had not Oll Shepard caught him in his 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 aimed at 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 they continued to pour a deadly fire into the outlaws.
Every time a bullet burst it either scattered and injured many or else it 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 gang made a rush for the bushes firing back at Jack and his friends as they went.
By this time the train crew recovered from their panic, and those of the passengers 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 mounted and 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 the animal, and it bounded high in the air and fell dead, the two riders being thrown to the ground.
The bandit was stunned.
But the sheriff, although pounded and bruised, escaped fatal injury and retained 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 and Fritz 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 out of the way as soon as they finished that train job. But you have baffled them nicely.”
“Not only with you, but we stopped them getting into the express car. We arrived 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 they reached the cars they found two more of the bandits badly wounded in the train crew’s hands.
All had recovered from the panic by this time.
The conductor now rushed up to Jack, followed by the train crew and passengers.
He gave the young inventor a hearty handshake, and cried:
“Let me thank you on behalf of all the people and myself for your gallant conduct, sir. If you had not come to our rescue, God only knows what 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 party upon the scene.
Moreover, the contents of the express car had been kept out of the clutches of the bandits.
True, the explosion had slightly injured the two men who had been in the car, but their condition might have been worse had Jack not interfered.
All the bandits had vanished except the three who had been captured, and they were bound hand and foot, and put aboard the car.
The conductor took charge of them.
He intended to put them in the hands of the law.
As soon as the passengers were back in the coaches, and the engineer and stoker in the cab, every one gave Jack and his friends a parting cheer.
The train then moved ahead.
“We didn’t do so blamed bad arter all,” chuckled Tim.
“Did yer see me drop forty o’ them pirates vi’ one shot?”
“Forty?” grinned Fritz.
“Ay–that’s wot I see,” Tim answered, haughtily.
Jack Wright and His Electric Stage Page 5