Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1900-07-13

Say" said Duffey, suppose that
some one should try to wreck the 2
o'clock express? What would we do?"
Il don't know" answered; II guess
we would run. What do you think we'd
do?
well, If there wasn't too many,
we'd surprise 'em. Hit one or two Of
them over the head before they knew
what was up, then be ready to shoot
the rest If they moved. Then we would
tie them and signal the train when it
came by"
Rats! We wouldn't do any such a
thing. But / don't like to talk about
1t out here. It's too real. Let's go to
sleep"
We lay there a long time after this
without saying anything, while two
freight trains pulled by and Mr..
Stuntz's lantern went across the bridge
and back after each one. By and by
we quit looking at the stars, pulled our
noses In under the blanket and tried
to sleep. The last thing l heard was
Duffey's eyes, but 'sposen they should
come" to which I wouldn't listen, but
shivered at the thought and snuggled
closer under the blanket.
l don't know just how long we had
slept, but woke UP suddenly at Duff
feys pinching me. 1 could feel that
he was trembling. l looked, and there
In front Of the shanty could just
make out the forms of four men. The
door was open and the light from the
lantern shone out across the track. l
could hear Mr.. Stuntz's snores plain
ly.
Then three of the forms stepped in
to the glare of the lantern and went
inside. We saw that they wore masks
and were armed The fourth man kept
his place outside. All at once there
was the noise of a short scuffle from
the shanty-a muffied yell, confusion
of low oaths, the lantern was kicked
over and smashed and we could hear
body falling to the floor, and then
we heard strange voice say: "Tie him
up and gag the old cuss." Then fol-
lowed some muffled swearing.
Were we scared? We were fairly
stiff with fright. My hair stood on end
and whole breezes ran up and down
my spinal column. 1t was awful
they might be numbering Mr.. Stuntz.
Somehow we didn't even once think
of making an attack on the robbers.
We just slid out from under that blan-
ket as fast and as quietly as we could,
working our way, feet first, on our
stomachs, down the hill. We would
have been In a dreadful fix IL one of
us had started stone to rolling or
had snapped n twig. But none of
these things happened and the man
who kept watch at the door never saw
us or heard us at all
At the bottom of the gully we STOP
ped and took hold Of each other for
company. l still held my revolver and
Duffey the bowie knife. My teeth were
chattering and Duffey shook like
| leaf.
They're going to wreck the o'clock
express and we've got to stop EN-"
said Duffey, his voice trembling.
This Is where he made little mis-
take. The robbers did not mean to
wreck the train, because 1t would have
been very easy to flag it. just as If
something were the matter with the
bridge, and then rob the express car
before the train crew really knew
what was the matter.
Now, we didn't know what time 1t
was nor how many confederates the
robbers might have strung out along
the track to keep watch. But we
guessed that II was near o'clock and
that we would have to go through the
woods for long way and be mighty
lively if we were going to stop that
train. SO we felt for the barbed- wire
fence that lined the right of way.
crawled under II into the black woods
and started toward town. IL was so
dark that you couldn't see your own
hand, and we We're nearly scared to
death as we ran into trees and caught
on prickly bushes time and again.
After quarter of mile of this we
pushed out toward the edge of the
woods and found that the railroad
track had made turn and that the
shanty was out OF sight.
Just then we heard the train whis-
tie. We slipped under the fence again
into the ditch and then stumbled up
onto the track. Already we could hear
the steady roar of the big, hoarse
smokestack and the steady sh-sh-sh as
the monstrous six-foot driving wheels
pounded the rails. She was coming
a-hying. Not eighty rods away she
rounded the curve and the fierce eye of
the headlight glared at us and red
band OF whirling smoke appeared in
the air as they opened the door of the
| firebox. Il was like standing in front