“I do,” replied Ben Cooper. “But come, let us make our way to the roadside.”
They turned at a sharp angle and started for the road; and as they reached it there came a sudden shout; a pistol shot rang out, and the moving lamp came to a stand far down the snowy road.
With the pistols gripped in his hands, Ben ran forward; as he neared the halted vehicle, he saw a man climbing down from a high seat, and another holding a pistol at his head. In the snow lay a dark, huddled form, and over it stood a man in a long greatcoat, his hands stuffed into his pockets.
“Have mercy, good folk,” whined the man, climbing down from the driver’s seat. “Take pity upon one who never did you harm.”
The man with the pistol answered with a brutal kick, at which the other howled loudly.
“Now hold your tongue, or you’ll get worse than that,” said the man with the pistol.
“The money is here—safe in the bags,” cried the coward. “Don’t harm me and I will show you where to find it.”
He was creeping toward the carriage once more when Ben Cooper’s first pistol exploded, and missed. The man who had kicked the driver whirled about savagely, but the second pistol laid him low; then the youth dropped both empty weapons in the road and leaped for the man in the greatcoat.
This person, however, stepped back, so as to avoid the full force of the rush; then he lifted an empty pistol which he held in his hand, and dropped it skilfully upon the boy’s head. Ben staggered beneath the shock of the blow; the pistol lifted to repeat, but the lad, shaken though he was, dodged, and in another instant had seized the other round the body.
The man in the greatcoat was powerfully made, and did not hesitate to grapple with his foe; but in spite of his great strength he found in the boy a supple, eel-like quality that made him difficult to master. Then to make matters worse for him, he stumbled over the prostrate form in the road and went down with the boy upon him. In an instant Ben had planted a knee in his chest, and gripped him about the throat.