"What--me!" shouted Sandy.
"Yes--you!" came the reply.
And at the same moment Jesse James, mounted on his wonderful coal black steed, Siroc, dashed up beside the stage.
He was followed by his entire band.
Although he and the rest were masked, Jack knew his voice at once, and shrank back to conceal his features in the collar of his rubber coat, which was turned up around his neck.
In a moment the whole gang was about the Terror.
Sandy reined in his horses.
Then he growled:
"What do you want?"
"Throw up your hands!"
"No, I won"t! You"re thieves!"
"Obey, or I"ll blow your head off."
This order was accompanied by the click of a pistol, and it was poked over toward the old driver"s face.
Sandy dropped the reins, and Jack stopped the Terror.
This was no sooner done when two of the bandits cut the traces, and delivering the horses a blow, sent them galloping away.
"Oh, Lor"! There goes my nags!" roared Sandy.
"Shut up, and hand over your valuables."
"Ain"t got none!" roared the old driver.
"Give me some light, boys, and we"ll go through the pa.s.sengers."
The next moment a dozen dark lanterns in the hands of the hors.e.m.e.n flashed out upon the Terror.
They recognized her instantly.
"Duped!" yelled Jesse. "It"s the electric stage!"
"Fire, boys!" shouted Jack.
A deadly volley was poured from within the Terror, and many a yell of pain from the outlaws plainly told how effective some of them had been.
They dashed their lanterns to the ground and galloped off.
But that did no good.
Jack turned on the search-light.
Its broad glare brightly lit up the canyon, and they saw the bandits galloping ahead of them.
"Give it to them again!" cried Jack.
The inmates of the Terror let drive a second volley.
Crack, bang!
Crack, bang!
Crack, bang!
Shot after shot pealed out.
Jesse James never was more furious.
He yelled at his men, and then screamed:
"Fire back! Obey, or I"ll fire at you yourselves!"
"By thunder, this was a surprise!" groaned Frank.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang! went the shots fired by the gang.
A storm of bullets flew back at the stage.
Poor old Sandy Ellis suffered death for his temerity.
A bullet struck him in the breast, and he uttered a groan and fell to the ground, never to rise again.
"They"ve killed Sandy!" cried Jack.
His words aroused the rage of the inmates of the Terror.
"B"ar down on ther pirates!" gasped Tim.
Jack sent the machine racing after the bandits.
There was one of the masked riders directly in front of the Terror, and the villain turned in his saddle, aimed a revolver point-blank at Jack, and was just upon the point of firing when the ram struck his horse.