mail car," whispered the
major. "Raise your revolver. Ready! Fire!"

[Illustration: "Back, All Three of You!"]

Both the major's revolver and Hal's spat out jets of flame. Both poured
their shots in rapidly at the two men whom they could just make out in
the darkness ahead.

Then Hal had a sudden, new sensation, not by any means agreeable.

The two men, neither hit so far, turned and raised their own weapons. It
seemed like two bright cascades of flame just ahead, as the ruffians
fired, kneeling.

Bullets whistled close to the major and the two recruits on either side.

Then, just as suddenly, one of the ruffians toppled over; it was
impossible to tell whether Major Davis or Hal Overton had scored the
hit.

Thereupon, the other man, lowering his weapon, leaped for the steps of
the mail car and vanished.

Major Davis ran forward, followed by both recruits. Noll was intent on
getting a revolver for himself.

But Davis, more accustomed to the ways of fighting men, suddenly
crouched low, peering under the body of the car just behind the mail
coach.

Almost immediately the major began to fire again, in answer to shots
that came from underneath the car.

But Noll waited for nothing. His sole thought was to possess a weapon.
He halted over the fallen one, snatched an empty revolver from his side,
then saw that the man was wounded in the right breast.

"You must have some cartridges," muttered Noll, rummaging in the
fellow's clothes.

He found the box just in time.

"Lie down, you two!" called Major Davis sharply to Hal and Noll. "You'll
be fired on from ahead."

Hal threw himself flat, and none too soon, for now a gust of bullets
swept down from the head of the train.

As coolly as he could Hal Overton reloaded. Noll, also lying flat on the
ground, was similarly engaged.

Hal was ready to fire first. There was need of it, too, for he could
dimly make out two men, near the extreme head of the train, who were
firing rapidly and firing their weapons in a fashion that drove up
spurts of dirt all about the recruits.

For a few seconds the fight seemed as serious to those engaged in it as
battle on a larger scale could have been.

Major Davis now made the first direct move. He crawled swiftly under the
car, putting himself on the same side with the man he was after.

There was more shooting on the other side of the train; then, suddenly
it stopped.

The two ahead, who were engaging Hal and Noll, dodged o