"There they are. Hey, stop!"
Two figures had cut across the lawn from the rear of the house.
"They are the same men," declared Ralph, and both he and the paymaster put after them.
The fugitives paid no attention to the repeated demands of the paymaster to halt. They crossed a vacant field and suddenly went clear out of sight.
"They"ve dropped over the wall guarding the north tracks," said Ralph.
"And we"ll follow!" declared Mr. Little dauntlessly.
At this point the north branch of the road ran down a steep grade and was walled in for over a thousand feet. Ralph dropped onto the cindered roadbed. Mr. Little more clumsily followed him.
"Where now?" he puffed, as he scrambled to his feet.
"There they go," said Ralph, pointing towards two forms quite plainly revealed in the night light.
"I see them," spoke the paymaster. "They"re caged in."
"Unless they take to the tunnel."
"Then we"ll take to it, too," insisted Mr. Little. "I"m bound to get those men."
Ralph admired the pluck and persistency of his companion. The paymaster was a big man and a brave one. He had the reputation of generally putting through any job he started on. The young railroader did not entirely share the hopes of his companion, as he saw the two fugitives reach the mouth of the tunnel, and its gloom and darkness swallowed them up like a cloud.
"The mischief!" roared the paymaster, going headlong, his cane hurtling through s.p.a.ce as he stumbled over a tie brace. "I"ve sprained my ankle, I guess, Fairbanks. Don"t stop for me. Run those fellows down. There"s bound to be a guard at the other end of the tunnel. Call in his help."
Ralph grabbed up the cane where it had fallen and put st.u.r.dily after the fugitives. The tunnel slanted quite steeply at its start. It was about an eighth of a mile in length, and single tracked only. Ralph was not entirely familiar with running details on this branch of the Great Northern, but he felt pretty sure that there were no regular trains for several hours after six o"clock.
The men he was pursuing had quite some start of him, and unless he could overtake them before they reached the other end of the tunnel they were as good as lost for the time being. Ralph"s thought was that when he had pa.s.sed the dip of the tunnel, he would be able to make out the forms of the fugitives against the glare of the numerous lights in the switchyards beyond the other entrance.
The young railroader retained possession of the paymaster"s cane as a weapon that might come in handy for attack or defense, as the occasion might arise.
It was as black as night in the tunnel, once he got beyond the entrance, and he had to make a blind run of it. The roadbed was none too smooth, and he had to be careful how he picked his steps. The air was close and smoky, and he paused as he went down the sharp grade with no indication whatever through sight or sound of the proximity of the men he was after.
It had occurred to him more than once that the men in advance, if they should happen to glance back, would be able to catch the outlines of his figure against the tunnel outlet. As they did not wish at all to be overhauled, however, Ralph believed they would plan less to attack him than to strain every effort to get into hiding as speedily as possible.
Headed forward at quite a brisk pace, the young railroader came suddenly up against an obstruction. It was human, he felt that. In fact, as he ran into a yielding object he knew the same to be a barrier composed of joined hands of the two fugitives. They had noted or guessed his sharp pursuit of them, had joined each a hand, and spreading out the others practically barricaded the narrow tunnel roadbed so he could in no manner get past them.
"Got him!" spoke a harsh voice in the darkness. Ralph receded and struck out with the cane. He felt that it landed with tremendous force on some one, for a sharp cry ensued. The next instant one of the fugitives pinioned one wrist and the other his remaining wrist.
Ralph swayed and swung to and fro, struggling actively to break away from his captors.
"What now?" rang out at his ear.
"Run him forward."
"He won"t run."
"Then give him his quietus."
Ralph felt that a cowardly blow in the dark was pending. He had retained hold of the cane. He tried to use this as a weapon, but the clasp on either wrist was like that of steel. He could only sway the walking stick aimlessly.
A hard fist blow grazed one ear, bringing the blood. Ralph gave an old training ground twist to his supple body, at the same time deftly throwing out one foot. He had succeeded in tripping up his captor on the left, but though the fellow fell he preserved a tenacious grip on the wrist of the plucky young railroader.
"Keep your clutch!" panted the other man. "I"ll have him fixed in a jiffy. Thunder! what"s coming?"
"A train!"
"Break loose--we"re lost!"
Ralph was released suddenly. The man on the right, however, had delivered the blow he had started to deal. It took Ralph across the temple and for a moment dazed and stunned him. He fell directly between the rails.
The two men had darted ahead. He heard one of them call out to hug the wall closely. Then a sharp grinding roar a.s.sailed Ralph"s ears and he tried to trace out its cause.
"Something is coming," he murmured. His skilled hearing soon determined that it was no locomotive or train, but he was certain that some rail vehicle of light construction was bearing down upon him.
Ralph was so dazed that he could barely collect wit and strength in an endeavor to crawl out of the roadbed. With a swishing grind the approaching car, or whatever it was, tore down the sharp incline.
His sheer helplessness of the instant appalled and amazed Ralph. It seemed minutes instead of seconds before he rolled, crept, crawled over the outside rail. As he did so, with a whang stinging his nerves like needles of fire, one end of the descending object met his suspended foot full force, bending it up under him like a hinge.
Ralph was driven, lifted against the tunnel wall with harsh force. His head struck the wet slimy masonry, causing his brain to whirl anew.
Something swept by him on seeming wings of fleetness. There was a rush of wind that almost took his breath away. Then there sounded out upon the clammy blackness of the tunnel an appalling, unearthly scream.
CHAPTER VII
DANGER SIGNALS
The danger seemed gone, with the pa.s.sage of the whirling object on wheels that had so narrowly grazed the young railroader, but mystery and vagueness remained in its trail.
"What was it?" Ralph heard one of his late a.s.sailants ask.
"A hand car," was the prompt reply. "She must have struck somebody. Did you hear that yell?"
"Yes--run for it. We don"t know what may have happened, and we don"t want to be caught here if anybody comes to find out what is up."
Ralph was in no condition to follow the fugitives. For a moment he stood trying to rally his scattered senses. The situation was a puzzling and distrustful one. Abruptly he crouched against the wall of the tunnel.
"The hand car," he breathed--"it is coming back!"
As if to emphasize this discovery, a second time and surely nearing him that alarming cry of fright rang out. Again reversed, the hand car whizzed by him. Then in less than twenty seconds it shot forward in the opposite direction once more. Twice it thus pa.s.sed him, and on each occasion more slowly, and Ralph was able to reason out what was going on.
The hand car was unguided. Someone was aboard, however, but helpless or unable to operate it. Unmistakable demonstrations of its occupancy were furnished in the repet.i.tion of the cries that had at first pierced the air, though less frenzied and vivid now than at the start.