Valdez will bring up
the rear. Forward, gentlemen, and may the Holy Virgin bring a happy
termination to our adventure." He spoke in Mexican, as they all did,
though for the next two hours conversation was largely suspended, owing
to the difficulty of the precipitous trail they were following.

Coming to a bit of the road where they were able to ride two abreast,
O'Connor made comment on the smallness of their number. "O'Halloran must
have a good deal of confidence in his men. Forty to ten is rather heavy
odds, is it not, senor?"

"There are six more to join us at the pass. The wagons have gone round
by the road and the drivers will assist in the attack."

"Of course it is all in the surprise. I have seen three men hold up a
train with five hundred people on it. Once I knew a gang to stick up a
treasure train with three heavily armed guards protecting the gold.
They got them right, with the drop on them, and it was good-by to the
mazuma."

"Yes, if they have had any warning or if our plans slip a cog anywhere
we shall be repulsed to a certainty."

By the light of a moon struggling out from behind rolling clouds Bucky
read eleven-thirty on his watch when the party reached Agua Negra.
It was still thirty minutes before the Flyer was due, and O'Halloran
disposed his forces with explicit directions as to the course to be
followed by each detail. Very rapidly he sketched his orders as to the
present disposition of the wagons and the groups of attackers. When
the train slowed down to remove the obstacles they placed on the track,
Garcia and another young man were to command parties covering the train
from both sides, while Rodrigo and one of the drivers were to cover the
engineer and the fireman.

O'Halloran himself, with Bucky and young Valdez, rode rapidly in the
direction of the approaching train. At Concho the engine would take on
water for the last stiff climb of the ascent, and here he meant to board
the train unnoticed, just as it was pulling out, in order to emphasize
the surprise at the proper moment and render resistance useless. If the
troopers were all together in the car next the one with the boxes of
rifles, he calculated that they might perhaps be taken unawares so
sharply as to render bloodshed unnecessary.

Concho was two miles from the summit, and when the three men galloped
down to the little station the headlight of the approaching engine was
already visible. They tied their horses in the mesquit an