Lying flat on the ground, both recruits played the waiting game.
Had the pair ahead stolen off altogether in the darkness?
"I'll wait a few moments," Hal decided. "Then, if I don't hear from the scoundrels, I'll cross over to see what has happened to Major Davis."
Crack! crack! crack! The vanished pair of train robbers were opening fire again, from behind a boulder that sheltered them admirably. Hal and Noll had no protection other than they could get from lying close to the ground. But they answered the fire briskly.
Crack! crack! crack! As fast as revolvers were emptied the marksmen reloaded and again began firing. In daylight the execution would have been swifter, but all hits made in black darkness are made by the grace of luck.
In the first place the only target anyone in the combat had was the flash of an opponent's pistol.
The train robbers behind the ledge changed their positions after nearly every shot. And Hal and Noll, after the warm, uncomfortable experience of having bullets fan their faces persistently, found it advisable to crouch low and dart here and there, firing from new positions.
All this time the scores of people on the train were sitting in terrified silence. Passengers or train crews rarely interfere in a case of this kind.
Not even the train's lights aided either side, for the two young recruits had taken pains to close in on the ledge sufficiently to escape illumination by the train's lights.
Crack! crack! crack! This was a new note, coming from past the forward end of the ledge.