“So are we, now!” sharply sounded the voice of one of the men from Brocton, and another flash of lightning showed the enemy still in view.
“Up the road after them!” came a second order.
Ralph ran up to the side of the caboose.
“All safe?” he inquired anxiously.
“All but one of us,” responded the conductor.
Ralph lit a lantern, noticing one of the train hands lying on the ground motionless.
“He’s a fighter, Tom is,” said the conductor. “He resisted and grappled with one of the robbers, and another of them knocked him senseless.”
“What’s this in his hand?” inquired Ralph. “Oh, I see—a cap. Snatched it from the head of his assailant, I suppose. Hark! they are shooting up there.”
Shots rang out along the cut road. In a few minutes, however, the men from Brocton reappeared in the cut. 17
“No use wasting our lives recklessly,” said one of them. “They have bullets, we only small shot. The wagon got away. We’ll hurry back to Brocton, get a regular posse armed with rifles, and search the country for the rascals.”