The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-06-02
saw Raslan's lip curl and his brown eyes

stand aside, If you are afraid"
But the president came between, an(
the lieutenant showed the useless weapon
to him. IT'S empty" he said, IL for
got to bring any ammunition"
Raglans lip curled again; but whei
the white-haired one would have KEEP
the passage with him, with broken ia
BILE leg for weapon, he put him gently
aside:
mo; this is work for a younger man
And must have room to play in HI
barred his sword arm to the elbow ant
cleared a space at the entrance to the
narrow side vestibule leading forward
do you stand just here, behind me
where you can see that mirror at thu
farther end of the compartment and give
me the word when they begin TO come"
The construction of the private car fav'
ored the defense. The forward vestibul'
was a narrow passage, one-man wide
leading from the front platform arounc
the two drawing rooms to the centra
compartment. There were two rlght-an
gled turns in It, and it was further OBJ
structed by q glass-paneled swing door.
Raglan stood to the right of the pas
sage, with the women in the corner be
hind him. The lieutenant looked as Il
he would give his shoulder straps to b'
cut of 1t. but for very shame's sake h'
dubbed the empty pistol and braceC
himself. There was a great square mir
ror filling the panel at the opposite enc
OF the compartment, and in this The
sallyport vestibule was in view UP to At:
first right-angled turn around the draw
ing rooms.
The little interval of waiting was
more trying than the fiercest battle
Ragland glanced out at the flying land
rlyv Of hn fn,
rious speeding and the wreckers mus
either do or die. since the train was rap
idly nearing the hilltop crisis. There
was no more hammering at the TANNED
coupling pin in front, but from the rear
came succession of Earring blows, tell
ing of the efforts of the armed treasure
guard to break out of the express car.
AS before, Helen Langham was the
only one of the trembling quartette who
dared to look on, and she could not help
contrasting the two young men. compar-
ing them and thinking that they might
well change places in a militant world
The blood trickled from the bullet score
in Raglands temple. binding him as II
ran into his eye; and when she saw this
Helen sprang up, snatched the handker-
chief from the pocket of the cast-off coat,
and bound it quickly and deftly about
the wound. AT the knotting of the hand
kerchief he caught her hand and pressed
1t to his lips.
1t was at the kissing instant that the
president gave the word.
ION guard! Here they Gomez
The speed was slackening, and in a
swift glance aside at the mirror Raglan
saw the narrow passage filling with men
at its farther end Sweeping the way
before them with a scattering volley. they
-kaA ,, \
the battle was on.
For the one woman who was still look
ing on. the scene was not less inspiring
than it was terrifying. As in a series of
flash-light pictures. she saw Ragland spit
the leader in mid carer, smite down the
second with a blow from the pommel of
the sword, and fling himself upon the
others with a roar like that of an angry
lion. Berserk-mad he was, indeed, and
had need TO be, since the lieutenant had
vanished after fiinging the empty pistol
into the thick of the fray, and the white
haired president, with his dubbed table
leg, was covering the women.
In and out the bright steel flashed. and
the man who welded it seemed immortal
Ever and anon a pistol cracked, or a
dubbed gun was swung above him, OF
fierce hands clutched at him; but in thai
cramped shambles the man who had once
been the best swordsman al West Point
still lived, and lived to slay.
Helen shuddered and shut her eyes, and
then looked again as one fascinated. New
er before had she realized what a terrible
weapon the sword is in the hands of a
man who knows how to use II. Back and
forth and from side to side he darted
catlike for all his fourteen stone. and the
sword bit deep and true at every swift
ha
choked with the bodies of the slain.
None the less the end disastrous came,
as it must in any battle against odds so
overwhelming. In the thick of the melee
one Of the desperadoes, slipping under the
swordsman's arm gained a pace or two
90 the rear and raised his rifle. At the
trigger-pullng crisis the train stopped
with a shock; the robbers rife beloved
and the compartment filled suddenly with
a rush of the armed treasure-guard from
the rear.
Helen Langham saw It all as one OF
the flashlight pictures; saw the squirt of
red flame from the rifles mouth, and
saw her hero fall first to his knees, and
then upon his face. And after that she
saw nothing but the bronzed face in her
lap-his face with the brown eyes closed
and the big jaw set as death sets it,
When Angus Raglan came back to a
conscious seeing of things visible he had
confused notion that he was dead and
on the way to burial. But his surround
ings presently resolved themselves into
the interior of the presidents stateroom
in the "Esmeralda," and it was the slow
speeding of the car that had answered 10
the rumbling OF hearse wheels Someone
STIRRED at the bedside, and tremulous
voice said: Don't speak IL II hurts you,
but are you in much pain?'
Raglan's answer was no answer
There is a pin sticking me in my
shoulder. but If you will hold my hand
just little tighter think can man
age to forget it," he said. and then:
What happened?"
you were shot just as the train stop
ped and the guard rushed in. We ran
back to Fort Larimore, and the post sur
geon dressed your wounds"
And the wreckers?"
"Only two OF them escaped alive-the
two on the engine" He felt her shud-
der through the medium of the elapsed
hands, but 1t was only OF recollection.
Where are we now?' he asked.
ION the way TO Denver, trying to get
you home to Uncle Parkman's, where
We can nurse you alive again. Do you
think you can stand IT."
1T will depend upon you" he declared,
shamelessly. "As long as you sit there
and hold my hand. I can stand anything.
But you mustn't let 1t go for a min
ute"