Then, just as suddenly, one of the ruffians toppled over; it was impossible to tell whether Major Davis or Hal Overton had scored the hit.
Thereupon, the other man, lowering his weapon, leaped for the steps of the mail car and vanished.
Major Davis ran forward, followed by both recruits. Noll was intent on getting a revolver for himself.
But Davis, more accustomed to the ways of fighting men, suddenly crouched low, peering under the body of the car just behind the mail coach.
Almost immediately the major began to fire again, in answer to shots that came from underneath the car.
But Noll waited for nothing. His sole thought was to possess a weapon. He halted over the fallen one, snatched an empty revolver from his side, then saw that the man was wounded in the right breast.
"You must have some cartridges," muttered Noll, rummaging in the fellow's clothes.
He found the box just in time.
"Lie down, you two!" called Major Davis sharply to Hal and Noll. "You'll be fired on from ahead."
Hal threw himself flat, and none too soon, for now a gust of bullets swept down from the head of the train.