the night.

But he was not long left in doubt as to the character of the approaching
vehicle, for in a moment more it swept around a curve in the railroad,
and came to a stop immediately in front of them.

And, strangely enough, it was an automobile arrangement, only that it
was equipped with car wheels instead of with rubber tires; wheels that
had flanges to fit the tracks. But it was provided with a gasoline
engine, and Nick knew from the appearance of the apparatus that it was
capable of great speed.

When it came to a stop Nick saw that it already contained two men, one
of whom was driving; but he got down from the seat under the steering
wheel, and climbed into the rear of the machine, while Handsome took his
place.

"New man; Dago for a handle," said Handsome briefly, by way of
introducing Nick to the others. What their names might be he evidently
did not deem it important to mention.

"Try-out?" asked one of the men, while Nick was climbing into the box of
the machine.

Handsome nodded curtly--and that was all that was said at the moment.

It was significant, however, to Nick, for it meant a lot. It meant that
these other men entirely comprehended the situation, and that all three
of them were prepared to shoot him in the back at any moment when his
conduct of the business in hand did not entirely satisfy them.

But Nick was resolved not to be shot in the back that night. Whatever
the business might prove to be upon which they were engaged, he was
resolved to see it through to a finish, even to the extent of helping
them burglarize a bank, if that was the lay.

"To do a great right, do a little wrong," he muttered to himself.
Whatever might be stolen or whatever damage might be done that night, he
would charge up in his expenses, and see to it that the railroad people
made it good later on, when his work should be done.

In the meantime the railroad automobile had been gathering speed, and
now it seemed to Nick to be little less than wonderful that it remained
on the tracks at all, for if he was any judge of speed, he knew that
they must be flying along at much more than a mile a minute--and he
wondered what would happen if the headlight of a locomotive should loom
suddenly before them--and then, just as the thought occurred to him,
they rounded a short curve, and came to a sudden stop.

CHAPTER VI.

NICK CARTER ROBS A BANK.

The instant the strange machine was brought to a stop--and it w