Cavalier County farmers press. (Langdon, N.D.) 1920-1921, 1920-06-24

brakes. A volley Of shots rang out.
Curly slipped the mask VI his face
and rose. with a revolver in each hand.
He had been sitting at the end OF the
car so that nobody noticed him until
his voice rang out with a crisp order.
"Hands up! Don't anybody novel"
An earthquake shock could not have
alarmed the passengers more. The
color vas washed completely from the
faces of most Of them.
Reach for the roof. Come, punch
a hole in the sky!" To do it thorough
ly. Curly flung a couple Of shots
through the ceiling. That was enough.
Hands went up without any argument,
most of them quivering as from an
Arkansas chill. -
Presently Cranston herded the pas
sengers in from the forward coaches.
With them were most Of the train
crew.
Were cutting off the express car
and going forward to 'Dobe Wells with
it. There we can blow open the safe
uninterrupted" Bad Bill explained.
"You herd on the passengers here
from the outside till you hear two
shots, then hump yourself forward and
hop on the express car"
Fine! Curly was to stand out there
in the moonlight and let anybody in
the car that had the nerve pepper
away at him. If they did not attend
to the job of Kidding him, his false
friends would do it While he was run
ming forward to get aboard. Nothing
could have been simpler-if he had not
happened to have had inside informa-
ton of their intent.
He had to think quickly, for the
plans of him and his friends had been
deranged. They had reckoned on the ex-
press car being rifled on the spot. This
would have given Cullison time to
reach the scene of action. Now they
would be too late. Unless Curly could
stop it. the holdup would go through
according to the program of Soapy
and not of his enemies.
The decision of Flandrau was in
Simultaneous. He slid down beside the
track into the long grass. Whipping
up one of his guns, he fired. AS If in
answer to the first shot his revolver
cracked twice. simultaneously, he let
out a cry Of pain, wriggled back for a
dozen yards through the grass, and
crossed the track in the darkness. AS
he crouched down close to the wheels
of the sleeper some one came running
back on the other side.
"What's up, Sam? You hit?" he could
hear Blackwell whisper.
No answer came. The paroled con-
Wet was standing close to the car for
fear of being hit himself and he dared
not move.
"Sam," he called again; then, Giles
sur got his"
That was all Curly wanted to know.
Softly he padded forward, keeping as
low as he could till he reached the
empty %sleepers. A brakeman "a just
uncoupling the express car when Curly
dived underneath and nestled close to
the trucks.
have reached out and touched Soapy
standing Dy the car.
"What about the kidd? Stone asked
Blackwell as the latter came up.
"They got him. Didn't you hear him
yelp?"
eyes, but did they put him out of
business? See his body?"
Blackwell had no intention of going
back into the fire zone and making
sure. For his part he was satisfied. So
he lied.
"Yep. Blew the top of his head off,
Good. Soapy nodded, THAT'S a
receipt in full for Mr.. Luck Cullison."
Before many minutes the engine be.
gan to slow down. The wheels had
hardly stopped moving when Curly
crept out, plowed through the sand, uI
the rubble Of a little hill, and into 8
draw where a bunch of scrub oaks of.
fered cover.
A voice from in front called to him
Just then the moon appeared from be
hind drifting clouds.
"Oh, it's you Sam. Everything all
right?"
Fright as the wheat. We're blow
ing open the safe now" .Flandrau an
swered.
Moving closer, he saw that his ques
toner was the man in charge Of the
horses. Though he knew the voice, he
could not put a name to it's owner
But this was not the point that first
occupied his mind. There were only
four horses for five riders. Curly knew
now that he had not been mistaken
Soapy had expected one of his allies
to stay on the field of battle, had pre-
pared for it from the beginning. The
knowledge of this froze any remorse
the young vaquero might have felt.
He pushed his revolver against the
teeth Of the horse wrangler.
Don't move, you ~bandy-leggeC
maverick, or I'll fill your hide full OF
holes. And if you want to keep on
living paddock that mouth Of yours"
In spite Of his surprise the man
caught the point at n He turned
over his weapons without a word.