They all put on suits of aluminum mail and armed themselves.
Then they ran at full speed along the track in the direction from whence the whistle sounded.
The moon was then flooding the scene.
Far ahead the polished rails described a curve in a wide, deep cut, filled with trees and shrubbery.
In the middle of the north-bound track stood Jesse James waving a red lantern to an oncoming train, the headlight of which was blazing upon the bandit king with a silvery glow.
Jesse had a black mask on, and clutched a revolver in his hand.
None of the men were visible.
The train had slackened speed to round the curve, and as soon as the engineer saw the danger signal he stopped the cars.
"Hello!" he cried, "What's the matter?"
"Rail broken!" replied Jesse, approaching the cab.