his hand, he heard the slight jar that showed that Pete had done his
part. At once he slid the door close, and pushed the hasp in. With
Pete to help him, they had it securely locked in a moment, so that no
one inside could hope to get out. Then, while a yell of rage and
surprise, mingled with terror, came from inside the car, the two boys
leaned all their weight against it. So slight was the resistance it
could offer, owing to the grade, that it started to roll at once.

"Come on, Pete," cried Jack. "Get aboard the car--swing up the way the
brakemen do."

Yelling in triumph, to let Carew and the others know that they had
succeeded, the two Scouts leaped to the top of the car. A man had been
stationed in a nearby building, and, as he saw the car begin to move,
he leaped to the gates and opened them. Then he swung aboard and
joined the two boys on the top of the car.

Carew had telephoned to the freight yard as soon as he knew the men
were locked in the car, and by the time it rolled into the freight yard
and came to a stop on the level section of track there a score of men
stood ready to capture the strikers as they emerged. The regular
police were not on hand, but Captain Haskin, and some of his railroad
detectives, well armed, were ready and waiting, and they were so strong
that there was no chance for Ed Willis and his chum to make a
successful rush.

"Surrender, you two!" cried Haskin, as the door was opened. "Don't
attempt to escape or make any trouble, or you'll be riddled with
bullets. We've got you covered!"

"Don't shoot, boss! We'll come down!"

Big Ed Willis, all the bluff stripped from him, so that his real
cowardice was exposed, was the speaker. His tone trembled and terror
filled him. He crawled out abjectly, and held up his hands for the
handcuffs which Haskin at once fitted on.

"You're a fine sort of a low hound!" exclaimed the other. "I thought
you were a man, Willis, when you proposed this game. I'd never have
gone in with you if I'd thought you were going to quit cold this way."

But he saw that he could do nothing, single-handed, against such a show
of force as Haskin and his men made, and he, too, came out of the car
and surrendered. Haskin whipped the handkerchief from his face, and
Jack, with a cry of surprise, saw that he knew him. It was Silas
Broom--the man of the burning launch.

"That's Broom, Captain Haskin--the man that escaped!"

"I thought so," said Haskin, g