When I
returned to the saloon, the rest of the party were there, and I bade
good-bye to the captain and Albert. Then I turned to Lord Ralles, and,
holding out my hand, said--

"Lord Ralles, I joked a little the other morning about the way you
thought road agents ought to be treated. You have turned the joke very
neatly and pluckily, and I want to apologize for myself and thank you
for the railroad."

"Neither is necessary," he retorted airily, pretending not to see my
hand.

I never claimed to have a good temper, and it was all I could do to
hold myself in. I turned to Miss Cullen to wish her a pleasant trip,
and the thought that this might be our last meeting made me forget
even Lord Ralles.

"I hope it isn't good-bye, but only _au revoir_," she said. "Whether
or no, you must let us see you some time in Chicago, so that I may
show you how grateful I am for all the pleasure you have added to our
trip." Then, as I stepped down off my platform, she leaned over the
rail of 218, and added, in a low voice, "I thought you were just as
brave as the rest, Mr. Gordon, and now I think you are braver."

I turned impulsively, and said, "You would think so, Miss Cullen, if
you knew the sacrifice I am making." Then, without looking at her, I
gave the signal, the bell rang, and No. 3 pulled off. The last thing I
saw was a handkerchief waving off the platform of 218.

When the train dropped out of sight over a grade, I swallowed the lump
in my throat and went to the telegraph instrument. I wired Coolidge to
give the alarm to Fort Wingate, Fort Apache, Fort Thomas, Fort Grant,
Fort Bayard, and Fort Whipple, though I thought the precaution a mere
waste of energy. Then I sent the brakeman up to connect the cut wire.

"Two of the bullets struck up here, Mr. Gordon," the man called from
the top of the pole.

"Surely not!" I exclaimed.

"Yes, sir," he responded. "The bullet-holes are brand-new."

I took in the lay of the land, the embers of the fire showing me how
the train had lain. "I don't wonder nobody was hit," I exclaimed, "if
that's a sample of their shooting. Some one was a worse rattled man
than I ever expect to be. Dig the bullets out, Douglas, so that we can
have a look at them."

He brought them down in a minute. They proved to be Winchesters, as I
had expected, for they were on the side from which the robbers must
have fired.

"That chap must have been full of Arizona tangle-foot, to have fired
as wild as he di