Billie jumped out of the machine, wishing with all her heart that somebody would invent a motor car that wouldn"t need to be cranked up.
"Beggin" your pardon, Miss, will you kindly stay where you are?" said a soft, drawling voice behind them.
They turned quickly and faced another broad-shouldered individual with a sombrero half covering his lean, sunburned face. His gray eyes twinkled with amus.e.m.e.nt when he saw their consternation.
"We won"t do no harm to you, ladies, except to ask you for a lift after this little business is over. Jes" keep perfectly quiet and ask no questions, and we"ll tell you no lies."
Somehow, Billie did not feel frightened at this gentle, humorous person.
"Suppose we don"t care to give you a lift," she said, her hand on the cranking lever.
"That would be a pity, Miss," answered the man coaxingly, "because," he went on slowly, "you see--" his hand slipped in his hip pocket and drew out a small, dangerous-looking revolver.
"Billie, darling, don"t oppose the creature!" cried Miss Campbell in a strangled voice.
"Steady! steady!" said the man. "Don"t git nervous, lady. You"ll come through the ordeal as well as you ever was in your life. Jes" draw in a bit."
Never had the moments dragged so slowly as they did now. Through the car windows they could see men and women with arms uplifted. Was it possible that one man could rob fifty? No; not one. They perceived two confederates, who had sprung up from somewhere, followed behind with a pistol in each hand. An intense quiet seemed to hang over the place as the robbers went silently through the train, and at last emerged from the back. The herd of officials were now made to get out and walk toward the engine. The engineer was permitted to climb into his engine, the others climbed in anywhere after him. As the train began to get up steam a man called out:
"Good heavens! there"s an automobile full of girls. We can"t leave them at the mercy of these blackguards."
"They"re confederates!" called another man.
"Confederates? Nonsense! Don"t you see that fellow has a pistol aimed at them?"
As the train started, the pa.s.senger ran back to the platform and jumped off. The next moment three train robbers and a young man without any hat surrounded the Comet:
"Now, don"t try any monkey business, young feller," said the first robber, pointing his pistol at the pa.s.senger. "Jes" stay right where you are. I don"t want to commit murder."
"Put that pistol up, Jim Bowles. I"m not afraid of you or of any of your disreputable acquaintances. These ladies are friends of mine, and I intend to stay with them."
The girls, who had huddled down in the car white and silent, took courage and looked up.
It was Daniel Moore who was speaking.
Miss Campbell gave a little tremulous cry like a child"s.
"Oh, Mr. Moore, I implore you not to leave us."
"I mean what I say," pursued Jim Bowles. "If you wanter be still breathing fresh air in another two minutes, stay where you are."
Daniel Moore looked him calmly in the eye.
"Do you remember Christmas Eve at Silver Bow two years ago?" he asked.
The robber"s face was curiously twisted with emotion.
"Yes," he replied.
"I cut you down," said Daniel Moore. "You would have been strung up there yet if I hadn"t come back in time. The scar is still there, I see."
He glanced at the man"s sinewy throat around which ran a deep red scar.
With one stride Jim Bowles reached the other side of the automobile and seized Mr. Moore"s hand.
"Wuz you the gennelman? Stranger, git in and take it easy. We won"t do no harm to these ladies. But we"d like to git a lift. I knowed you wuz a brave man as soon as I seen you, and no one kin ever say Jim Bowles forgits a favor."
Daniel Moore climbed in behind with Miss Helen and the girls who huddled down somehow, while the robbers pressed themselves into the front and Billie started the machine.
CHAPTER XV.-IN THE ROBBERS" NEST.
For an hour the Comet had been toiling upward by a circuitous and intricate way. But he had not lost in speed. Billie had made up her mind not to linger. If they must see these men into a safe hiding place it was well to get it over with as soon as possible.
They had not been permitted to light the Comet"s one illuminating eye, but had gone silently and swiftly along. It was now eight o"clock by the motor timepiece, but it was still light enough to see the road winding in front of them like a white ribbon in the blue gray atmosphere.
"We are most there now, young Miss," Jim Bowles observed respectfully.
He admired intensely this intrepid young woman who drove a car better than most men.
"Most where?" she asked calmly, but with inward quaking. "It"s better,"
she thought, "to let him think I"m not frightened, but I am just the same."
"Most to the place we"re goin" to," he remarked mysteriously.
"It"s very inconvenient for us," she replied, gathering courage as she noted his respectful manner. "We had expected to reach Salt Lake City the day after to-morrow."
"Salt Lake City," he exclaimed. "Young lady, it"s lucky you spoke. I know a short cut through the mountains and I"ve got a friend as"ll show you the way."
"But it"s just a pa.s.s, isn"t it? Not a road for automobiling."
"Many a prairie schooner has pa.s.sed that way, Miss, an" wasn"t none the worse for it, neither. The road ain"t known to everybody, but it"ll save you half a day"s travel, an" I"ll be glad to make you acquainted with it and protect you on the journey, too."
"Only a few hours ago we were wishing to find a short cut to Salt Lake City," she thought. "Wishes do come true in such an unpleasant manner sometimes."
The Comet slowed down. The road became very steep and rugged, and straight above them loomed a precipice, like an immeasurable black wall.
As they turned a curve a blast of cold air blew straight into their faces, and they began to feel strangely light, as if they had no bodies and were floating in s.p.a.ce. Presently in the dim light they perceived three silent figures standing across the road, each with a shotgun.
"Draw in, men, it"s friends," called Jim Bowles. "Take this road, Miss,"
he added, pointing to a broad trail that appeared to have been cut through the rocks.
The motorists gave a start of surprise when the Comet presently slipped into what proved to be later a sort of cup in the side of the mountain, well hidden by the rocky walls surrounding it.
In the dim light they saw a group of log huts huddled close together, as if for companionship. There were lights in the windows, and framed in the doorway of the nearest hut was the figure of a woman whose face was turned anxiously in their direction.
Jim Bowles crawled slowly out of the motor car and began a whispered conference with his confederates.