Gordon, and now I think you are braver."
I turned impulsively, and said, "You would think so, Miss Cullen, if
you knew the sacrifice I am making." Then, without looking at her, I
gave the signal, the bell rang, and No. 3 pulled off. The last thing I
saw was a handkerchief waving off the platform of 218.
When the train dropped out of sight over a grade, I swallowed the lump
in my throat and went to the telegraph instrument. I wired Coolidge to
give the alarm to Fort Wingate, Fort Apache, Fort Thomas, Fort Grant,
Fort Bayard, and Fort Whipple, though I thought the precaution a mere
waste of energy. Then I sent the brakeman up to connect the cut wire.
"Two of the bullets struck up here, Mr. Gordon," the man called from
the top of the pole.
"Surely not!" I exclaimed.
"Yes, sir," he responded. "The bullet-holes are brand-new."
I took in the lay of the land, the embers of the fire showing me how
the train had lain. "I don't wonder nobody was hit," I exclaimed, "if
that's a sample of their shooting. Some one was a worse rattled man
than I ever expect to be. Dig the bullets out, Douglas, so that we can
have a look at them."
He brought them down in a minute. They proved to be Winchesters, as I
had expected, for they were on the side from which the robbers must
have fired.
"That chap must have been full of Arizona tangle-foot, to have fired
as wild as he did," I ejaculated, and walked over to where the
mail-car had stood, to see just how bad the shooting was.
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