Having gained his freedom, Jack had raced away with the Terror in order to keep out of danger until he was prepared to defend himself.
He did not stop the stage until she was at a considerable distance from the rendezvous of the bandits.
Then he critically examined her.
She proved to be in first-class order.
Jack then went inside and put on a suit of armor.
Thrusting two pistols in his belt, he procured a small basket, and opening a box, he withdrew from it a dozen steel balls to each of which a small metal handle was attached.
These he put very carefully into the basket.
They were hand grenades.
Loaded with the same terrible explosive compound that he put in the bullets he used, they possessed ten times the power that ordinary dynamite shells have.
Armed with these awful missiles, he was ready to go back and single-handed engage in a fight with the whole gang.