"I won"t listen!" exclaimed Jack, with a frown.
"Waal, I"ll tell Fritz," said Tim, in nowise abashed. "Yer see it wuz sich a dark night we missed ther spot, which was a lagoon, on the coast o" Georgie---"
"Try ub!" roared Fritz.
"I"ll be blowed if I will!"
"I don"d vant ter hear dot yarn."
"I don"t keer if yer don"t. Ter continer: But although we missed ther lagoon in ther gloom, an runned inter a leetle bay, our enemy did ther same. Thar we had him. Gee whiz, how we socked it ter him! He sailed aroun" and aroun" ther bay, an" we arter him. I manned ther long Tom, an" pickin" "em out one by one, I gave it ter each o" ther crew---"
"For Heaven"s sake, stop!" cried Jack.
"Wot fer?"
"How could you see in the dark?"
"Why, every time I fired ther moon popped out, an" as soon as I stopped it hid itself agin," explained Tim, "Waal, sir, arter ther crew o" that ship surrendered, wot d"yer s"pose?"
"Ve don"t vos tink noddings!" roared Fritz.
"But I wants yer ter, I"ll tell yer. We diskivered as ther ship wot we wuz firin" at wazn"t no enemies wessel at all. It wuz our own consort, an"---"
"Oh, you old liar! You positively a.s.serted it was your enemy---"
"But I wuz mistooken. I---"
Bang!
A startling report rang out.
It came from beneath the stage.
The Terror stopped.
"By jingo, she"s broken!" gasped Jack.
"How?" asked Tim, forgetting his yarn.
"It must be in the truck."
"Himmel! How ve go ahet now ter safe dot drain?"
Jack alighted.
He quickly examined the gear.
"It"s one of the driving rods snapped in two!" he cried, finally.
"Kin ye fix it, my lad?"
"I don"t know till I take it off. We are crippled."
He got a wrench and unfastened the bolts, took off the two pieces, and then saw that the rim of one of the wheels had picked up a long stone which flew around with it.
It jammed between the body of the stage and one of the spokes, and the sudden shock had caused the rod to snap.
Just as Jack examined it, he heard the distant tooting of a locomotive whistle, momentarily drawing nearer.
"Here comes the express now!" he exclaimed.
"Kin yer git her ready in time?"
"No. It will take an hour to fix this."
_"Donner und blitzen!_ Dey holt her ub!"
"No doubt of it."
"We must do somethin", my lad."
"Arm yourselves, if you"re anxious. Don your metal suits. We"ll follow the train. She must be nearing the curve to whistle like that. Hurry up, and we"ll leave the Terror here."
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.
"h.e.l.lo!" he cried, "What"s the matter?"
"Rail broken!" replied Jesse, approaching the cab.
"Here comes the conductor."
"I"ll speak to him about it. Come down."
"Can"t. It"s against the rules for me to leave the caboose."