The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1906-03-10
CHAPTER III.
A Nlnht,s work on ,he AIkaII PIaIns.


hurried Miss Cullen into the car.
and. after boiling the rear door. took
down my Winchester from it's rack.
I'm going forward" told her,
"and will tell my darkies TO bolt the
front door; so you'll be as safe in here
as in Chicago"
In another minute / was on my front
platform Dropping down between the
two cars, crept along beside-in-
deed. half under-Mr. Cullen's special
After my previous conclusion, my sur
prise can be judged when at the far
ther end found the two Britishers
and Albert Cullen standing there In
the most exposed posItson possible. |
joined them. muttering TO myself
something about providence and fools
"Aw," drawled Cullen, here's Mr.
Gordon. just too late for the sport. by
Jovei"
Well" Dragged Lord Rallies. we've
had a hand In this deal. Mr.. Superln.
tendent and haven't been potted. The
scoundrels broke for cover the mo
ment we opeDed fire."
BY this time there were twenty pas
sengers about our group. all OF them
asking questions at once. making II
difficult 10 learn just what had hap
pened; but, as far as | could piece the
answers together, the poker players
curiosity had been aroused by the long
stop. and. looking out, they had seen
a single man with a rifle. standing by
the engine. Instantly arming them
selves. Lord Rallies let fly both barrels
mt him, and In turn was the target
for the first four shots | had heard
The shooting had brought the rest OF
the robbers tumbling on the cars, and
the captain and Cullen had fired the
rest OF the shots at them as they seat
tered, didn't stop TO hear more. but
went forward to see what the road
agents had got away with.
| found the express agent tied hand
and foot in the corner OF his car, and,
telling n brakeman who had followed
me TO set him at liberty. turned my
attention TO the safe. That the diver.
sion had not come moment too
soon was shown by the dynamite car.
fridge already in place. and by the
fuse that lay on the floor. as II dropped
suddenly. But the safe was intact
Passing into the mail car. found
the clerk tied 10 a post, with mall
sack pulled over his head. and the ut
most confusion among the pouches
and sorting compartments. while scat
tered over the floor were a great many
letters. Setting him az liberty. asked
him IL he could tell whether mail had
been taken, and. after a glance az the
confusion, he said he could not know
until he had examined,
Having taken stock or the harm
done. began asking questions. Just
after we had left Sanders. two masked
men had entered Tho mail car. and
while one covered the clerk with
revolver the other had tied and sack.
ed him. Two more had gone for.
ward and done the same TO tho ex
press agent Another had climbed
over the tender and ordered the run.
ner 10 hold up All this was regular
programme as had explained TO Miss
Cullen. hut here had been a variation
which | had never heard OF being
done. aud OF which | couldn't fathom
the object. when the train had been
stopped. the man on the tender had
ordered the fireman 10 dump his Ere.
and now II was lying in the roadbed
and threatening TO burn through the
ties; so my hrst order was 60 extin.
guish Il. and my second was 20 start
new fire and get up steam as quick.
ly as possible. From all could learn,
there were eight men concerned I'm the
attempt: and confess | shook my
head In puzzlement why that number
should have allowed themselves TO be
scared OF so easily.
My wonderment grew when called
on the conductor for his tickets.
These showed nothing but two from
Albuquerque. one from Laguna. and
four from Coolidge. This latter would
have looked hopeful but for the fact
that II was a party OF three women
and a man. Going back beyond Lamy
didn't give anything. for the conduc.
tor was able TO account for every fare
as either still In the train or as hav-
ing got on az some point My only
conclusion was that the robbers had
aneaked onto tho pfafforua N Gan