oor, took down my Winchester from its rack.

"I'm going forward," I told her, "and will tell my darkies to
bolt the front door: so you'll be as safe in here as in Chicago."

In another minute I was on my front platform. Dropping down
between the two cars, I crept along beside--indeed, half
under--Mr. Cullen's special. After my previous conclusion, my
surprise can be judged when at the farther end I found the two
Britishers and Albert Cullen, standing there in the most exposed
position possible. I joined them, muttering to myself something
about Providence and fools.

"Aw," drawled Cullen, "here's Mr. Gordon, just too late for the
sport, by Jove."

"Well," bragged Lord Ralles, "we've had a hand in this deal, Mr.
Superintendent, and haven't been potted. The scoundrels broke for
cover the moment we opened fire."

By this time there were twenty passengers about our group, all of
them asking questions at once, making it difficult to learn just
what had happened; but, so far as I could piece the answers
together, the poker-players' curiosity had been aroused by the
long stop, and, looking out, they had seen a single man with a
rifle, standing by the engine. Instantly arming themselves, Lord
Ralles let fly both barrels at him, and in turn was the target
for the first four shots I had heard. The shooting had brought
the rest of the robbers tumbling off the cars, and the captain
and Cullen had fired the rest of the shots at them as they
scattered. I didn't stop to hear more, but went forward to see
what the road agents had got away with.

I found the express agent tied hand and foot in the corner of
his car, and, telling a brakeman who had followed me to set him
at liberty, I turned my attention to the safe. That the diversion
had not come a moment too soon was shown by the dynamite
cartridge already in place, and by the fuse that lay on the
floor, as if dropped suddenly. But the safe was intact.

Passing into the mail-car, I found the clerk tied to a post, with
a mail-sack pulled over his head, and the utmost confusion among
the pouches and sorting-compartments, while scattered over the
floor were a great many letters. Setting him at liberty, I asked
him if he could tell whether mail had been taken, and, after a
glance at the confusion, he said he could not know till he had
examined.

Having taken stock of the harm done, I began asking questions.
Just after we had left Sanders, two masked men had entered the
mail-c