hissed in warning tones:

"Don't drop him!"

In a moment more the locomotive was gone.

The outlaws emerged from their places of concealment.

"How long before Timberlake will discover our ruse?" asked Frank.

"If the train goes on, not for an hour yet," replied Jesse, as he cast a
swift glance around. "But we are in a sorry plight now."

"How do you mean?"

"You know we all lost every dollar we had, playing faro in the city. How
are we going to ride back to Missouri without a cent? It's my opinion
that we'll have to do some work about Wrightstown to get ahead. The last
dollar I had went for the purchase of tickets to Missouri, which we gave
the conductor."

The gang looked very glum.

"What sort of a place is Wrightstown?" asked Cummins, finally.

"I've heard that it's a fisher village. A young fellow named Jack Wright
lives there. He's an inventor of electric machines for flying through
the air, navigating under water, and running over the land. Everybody
has heard of him. He has the reputation of being one of the richest boys
in the country. By means of his famous inventions he has made a barrel
of money."

"Then he's our game," said Frank, decisively.

"Yes," assented Jesse. "He's about the only one from whom we could
expect to make a rich haul. I hope he's at home. I've got a plan in view
now by means of which I can bunco him out of several thousands of
dollars, if we can operate the game before the Wrightstown Bank closes."

"What are you going to do?" eagerly asked Miller.

"I'll show you when I try the trick. It's a very smooth game, and if I'm
clever enough I'll succeed. Come on to the village, and see if we can
operate it. We've got to have money. If we can't get it by means of the
plan in view, I'm going to lay out the first man I meet, and go through
him."

The rest chuckled at this remark.

Going to the village, they found it to be a thriving place at the head
of a beautiful bay on the Atlantic sea coast.

There was a bank on the main street, and when it was located, Jesse said
to Frank:

"In nearly all banks there is a desk or table, for the benefit of
depositors, on which are pens, ink, deposit slips, and blank checks. You
go into the bank, and pocket several of the checks. There's an old
hostelry down there near the bay called the Sea Spider House. We will
register there, and you'll find us in the bar room."

Frank James nodded, and in a moment his compact and wiry body was going