He did not know whether to accept this reply as a direct insult or to take it as a belief in his veracity.
"Wot d"yer mean?" he asked.
"Simply this--you are the most outrageous old liar I ever came in contact with!" replied Timberlake.
"Oh!" cried Tim, in horror. "Listen ter him! You wait till I finish this ere yarn, an" see if I"m tellin" ther truth."
"I"m afraid I won"t live long enough to wait until you finish that story," dryly answered the sheriff. "It would be too long a wait on my part, and---"
But Fritz interrupted him just there by shouting:
"Dere dey go--dere dey go!"
Timberlake opened the front door.
"Who--the bandits?" he asked eagerly.
"Yah."
"Where are they?"
"Dey go among dem rocks."
The stage had by this time run around the fire.
The James Boys must have curved their course toward the very direction to which the Terror was running, for Fritz had suddenly caught view of them.
They were heading for the rocks at the base of a rugged range of hills directly ahead of the electric stage.
Jack noticed a number of gorges, gulches and canyons splitting the towering hills and cliffs ahead, and observed that the bandits were heading for one of them.
He pointed this out to his companions.
"They don"t see us yet!" he exclaimed, "but they will the moment they glance back this way!"
"I think I know where they are going," said Timberlake.
"Where?" asked Jack.
"Into Dead Man"s Gulch."
"What would bring them there?"
"A huge cave, where the James Boys sometimes retreat."
"Can we reach it with this stage?"
"Yes. But once they get in they could hold us at bay."
"We will see about that when we run them to cover!"
In single file the bandits rode into the dark gulch, and when it had swallowed up the last one Jack pulled over the lever and sent the Terror ahead at full speed.
She made rapid headway to the gulch and soon reached it.
"Where is the cave situated?" asked Jack.
"Opposite that big bowlder, on the left hand side," the sheriff replied.
"You"d better put on your armor."
"I shall," Jack replied, as he stopped the Terror, "and you all had better arm yourselves, and prepare for trouble."
Their preparation, were hastily made.
As soon as everything was in readiness Jack alone went outside and a.s.sumed control of the wheel.
His friends ranged themselves at the windows.
All were well armed and ready for any danger.
In the course of a few minutes the Terror ran up to the big boulder and paused there.
Jack saw a ma.s.s of creeping vines that grew up the side of the wall, covering a dark aperture.
This was probably the cavern entrance.
He had scarcely noticed it when there sounded the sharp spiteful crack of a rifle behind the vines.
Ping! came a bullet.
It struck Jack squarely over the heart.
His breast plate flattened it and it fell harmless.
"A sentrys shot!" he muttered. "The villains know we are here now and the siege will soon begin."
CHAPTER XIX.
THE BANDIT"S LAST SHOT.
"Timberlake, I think I can run the Terror into that cave."
"Look out you don"t get her jammed in the entrance."
"Oh, I can clear the rocks on each side easily enough."
"Go ahead then."
Jack let the stage advance slowly.