d against the side of
the car, but it broke up when more figures came running up and one man
cried out sharply as he was struck by a heavy lump of gravel. Then
Hardie found himself kneeling beside Farren, who lay senseless near the
wheels with the blood running down his set white face. Behind him
stood the panting locomotive engineer, trying to hold back the growing
crowd.

"Looks pretty bad," he said. "What's to be done with him?"

"We had better get him into his bunk," directed Hardie. "Then I'll
make for the Butte as fast as I can and bring the doctor out."

"It would take two hours," objected the engineer, as he gently removed
Farren's hat. "Strikes me as a mighty ugly gash; the thing must be
looked to right away. If I let her go, throttle wide, we ought to make
Carson in half an hour, and they've a smart doctor there." He said
something to his fireman and added: "Get hold; we'll take him along."

It looked as if the outbreak had not met with general approval, for a
number of the bystanders offered their help and the injured man was
carefully carried to the locomotive.

"I'll run the cars along as far as the gravel pit; then I can book the
journey," the engineer said to Hardie. "But as I can't get off at the
other end, you'll have to come along."

Hardie wondered how he would get back, but that was not a matter of
great consequence, though he had to preach at Sage Butte in the
morning, and he climbed up when Farren had been lifted into the cab.
Then he sat down on the floor plates and rested the unconscious man's
head and shoulders against his knees as the engine began to rock
furiously. Nothing was said for a while; the uproar made by the
banging cars would have rendered speech inaudible, but when they had
been left behind, the engineer looked at Hardie.

"In a general way, it's not the thing to interfere in a row with a
boss," he said. "Still, four to two, with two more watching out for a
chance to butt in, is pretty steep odds, and Farren's a straight man.
I felt quite good when I hit one of those fellows with a big lump of
gravel."

Hardie could understand his sensations and did not rebuke him. So far
as his experience went, the western locomotive crews were of an
excellent type, and he was willing to admit that there were occasions
when the indignation of an honest man might be expressed in vigorous
action.

"It was really four to one, which makes the odds heavier," he said.

"I guess no