The
engineer and fireman at once threw up their hands, then the Colonel
turns to Ed, who was standing there like a man pole-axed, and says to
him mighty sharp, just like if he was speaking to a regiment of
soldiers:--
'"You keep these two men covered. Come on, Jack!" he says to me, and
then we steps up to the door of the express car, which the fellow
inside had got locked and bolted. The Colonel fires his revolver in
through the lock, then flung his shoulder agin the door, and it went
in with a crash, which was followed instantly by another crash, for
the little expressman was game right through. He had put out the
lights and was blazing away at the open door. The Colonel sprang for
cover inside the car, and wasn't touched, but one of the shots took me
just above the knee, and broke my leg, so I went down in a heap. The
minute the Colonel counted seven shots he was on to that express
messenger like a tiger, and had him tied up in a hard knot before you
could shake a stick. Then, quick as a wink he struck a match, and lit
the lamp. Plucky as the express messenger was, he looked scared to
death, and now, when Colonel Jim held a pistol to his head, he gave up
the keys and told him how to open the safe.
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