Gordon, just too late for the sport,
by Jove."
"Well," bragged Lord Ralles, "we've had a hand in this deal, Mr.
Superintendent, and haven't been potted. The scoundrels broke for
cover the moment we opened fire."
By this time there were twenty passengers about our group, all of them
asking questions at once, making it difficult to learn just what had
happened; but, so far as I could piece the answers together, the
poker-players' curiosity had been aroused by the long stop, and,
looking out, they had seen a single man with a rifle standing by the
engine. Instantly arming themselves, Lord Ralles let fly both barrels
at him, and in turn was the target for the first four shots I had
heard. The shooting had brought the rest of the robbers tumbling off
the cars, and the captain and Cullen had fired the rest of the shots
at them as they scattered, I didn't stop to hear more, but went
forward to see what the road agents had got away with.
I found the express agent tied hand and foot in the corner of his car,
and, telling a brakeman who had followed me to set him at liberty, I
turned my attention to the safe. That the diversion had not come a
moment too soon was shown by the dynamite cartridge already in place,
and by the fuse that lay on the floor, as if dropped suddenly. But the
safe was intact.
Passing into the mail-car, I found the clerk tied to a post, with a
mail-sack pulled over his head, and the utmost confusion among the
pouches and sorting-compartments, while scattered over the floor were
a great many letters.
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