n was checked. Then also from the
rear there came the sound of firing. The rapid-firers on the train had
been unloosed, and their leaden messengers were spelling death in the
ranks of the Germans, of whom the train was now in the middle.

Chester poked his head out the window of the cab, only to withdraw it
quickly, as a bullet struck a quarter of an inch from his ear. But in
that one brief glance he had taken in the situation.

A short distance ahead he could make out a small knot of British,
almost surrounded by Germans. The British had taken their stand
directly on the railroad track, the most strategic point for miles. A
clump of small trees screened them from the enemy on one side, but
from the other three directions the Germans were pouring in their
deadly fire.

The British troops stood gallantly to their work, and returned volley
for volley. They fought on doggedly. Suddenly the armored train shot
up the line which the British were holding, and Hal brought it to an
abrupt stop.

Right and left the train poured in broadsides of machine-gun fire,
mowing down the Germans at every yard. The Germans fell in heaps, and,
as if by a miracle, both sides of the track were suddenly lined with
high piles of the dead.

The little troop of British received this unexpected aid with a great
cheer, broke from cover and dashed in pursuit of the great mass of
Germans, who now were fleeing on all sides.

But the success of the British was destined to be short-lived. Hal and
Chester, in the cab of the locomotive, had just raised a loud cheer
when there was a terrific explosion, followed by a thundering crash,
and both lads were hurled violently to the floor of the cab.

Chester, with blood flowing from a gash in his forehead, was the first
to pick himself up. In falling his head had come in contact with a
sharp projection of some kind. He was terribly dizzy, but his head was
still clear.

He stooped over Hal, and at that moment the latter raised himself on
his elbow and then got to his feet unsteadily.

"Great Scott! What was that?" he gasped.

Chester did not reply. Instead he swung out from the cab and glanced
back over the train--or rather where the train had been. And what a
sight met his gaze!

The train of armored cars was gone. Alongside the track lay pieces of
wreckage, and many bodies and pieces of what had once been machine
guns.

Hal peered over Chester's shoulder.

"Another shell," he said slowly. "But