rprise.

Three men carried out the work of unloading the box car, while the two
others held the train crew at bay. All were masked with one exception,
and he, from his evident authority and mode of dress, was obviously
the leader of the gang.

He was a slight, dark man, of somewhat remarkable refinement of
appearance. He was good looking, and almost boyish in the lack of hair
upon his face. But this was more than counterbalanced by the
determined set of his features, and the keen, calculating glance of
his eyes. The latter, particularly, were darkly luminous and lit with
an expression of lawless exhilaration as the work proceeded. Compared
with his fellows, who were of the well-known type of ruffian, in whom
the remoter prairie lands abound, he looked wholly out of place in
such a transaction. His air was that of a town-bred man, and his
clothing, too, suggested a refinement of tailoring, particularly the
rather loose cord riding breeches he affected. The others, masked as
they were, with their coatless bodies, and loose, unclean shirts,
their leather chapps, and the guns they wore upon their hips--well,
they made an exquisite picture of that ruffianism which bows to no law
of civilization, but that which they carry in the leather holsters
hanging at their waists.

The trackside was strewn with disemboweled whitewood barrels. The
wreckage was grotesque. The ground was strewn in every direction with
a litter of white cube sugar, like the wind-swept drifts of a summer
snowfall. Barrels were still being dragged out of the car and dropped
roughly to the ground, where the sharp stroke of an axe ripped out the
head, revealing within the neatly packed keg of spirit, embedded so
carefully in its setting of sugar. The cargo had been well shipped by
men skilled in the subtle art of contraband. It was billed, and the
barrels were addressed, to a firm in Calford whose reputation for
integrity was quite unimpeachable. Herein was the cunning of the
smugglers. The sugar barrels were never intended to reach Calford.
They were not robbing the consignees in this raid upon the freight
train. They were simply possessing themselves, in unorthodox fashion,
of an illicit cargo that belonged to their leader.

Fifteen kegs of spirit had been removed and bestowed in the wagon.
There were still five more to complete the tally.

The leader, in easy tones, urged his men to greater speed.

"Get a hustle, boys," he said, in a deep, steady voic