I set her mind at rest on that score. "I
think they'll give us very little trouble to bag," I added, "for they
are so green that it's almost pitiful."
"In not cutting the wires?" she asked.
"In everything," I replied. "But the worst botch is their waiting till
we had just passed the Arizona line. It they had held us up an hour
earlier, it would only have been State's prison."
"And what will it be now?"
"Hanging."
"What?" cried Miss Cullen.
"In New Mexico train-robbing is not capital, but in Arizona it is," I
told her.
"And if you catch them they'll be hung?" she asked.
"Yes."
"That seems very hard."
The first signs of dawn were beginning to show by this time, and as
the sky brightened I told Miss Cullen that I was going to look for the
trail of the fugitives. She said she would walk with me, if not in the
way, and my assurance was very positive on that point. And here I want
to remark that it's saying a good deal if a girl can be up all night
in such excitement and still look fresh and pretty, and that she did.
I ordered the crew to look about, and then began a big circle around
the train. Finding nothing, I swung a bigger one. That being equally
unavailing, I did a larger third. Not a trace of foot or hoof within a
half-mile of the cars! I had heard of blankets laid down to conceal a
trail, of swathed feet, even of leathern horse-boots with cattle-hoofs
on the bottom, but none of these could have been used for such a
distance, let alone the entire absence of any signs of a place where
the horses had been hobbled.
Pages:
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208