"Them and your pards must have been pretty nigh together for a minute,
then," he said, pointing to the ground.
I glanced down, and sure enough, there were six empty
cartridge-shells. I stood looking blankly at them, hardly able to
believe what I saw; for Albert Cullen had said distinctly that the
train-robbers had fired only four times, and that the last three
Winchester shots I had heard had been fired by himself. Then, without
speaking, I walked slowly back, searching along the edge of the
road-bed for more shells; but, though I went beyond the point where
the last car had stood, not one did I find. Any man who has fired a
Winchester knows that it drops its empty shell in loading, and I could
therefore draw only one conclusion--namely, that all seven discharges
of the Winchesters had occurred up by the mail-car. I had heard of men
supposing they had fired their guns through hearing another go off;
but with a repeating rifle one has to fire before one can reload. The
fact was evident that Albert Cullen either had fired his Winchester up
by the mail-car, or else had not fired it at all. In either case he
had lied, and Lord Ralles and Captain Ackland had backed him up in it.
CHAPTER V
A TRIP TO THE GRAND CANON
I stood pondering, for no explanation that would fit the facts seemed
possible. I should have considered the young fellow's story only an
attempt to gain a little reputation for pluck, if in any way I could
have accounted for the appearance and disappearance of the robbers.
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