ller?"

"If you mean so that we can corral the James Boys, I cannot say--one
trail is the same as another."

"Blast thar lubberly hides!"

"I've got a plan though."

"An wot's that?"

"To pursue any one at random."

"But mebbe it won't be ther one we wants."

"Any one will do. Whoever the man is, we can perhaps catch him and force
him to confess where the rest are to meet. By that means we can find
them again."

"Jist ther plan, by thunder!" cried Tim, pounding his good leg with his
fist. "Keel haul me if you ain't got as long a figgerhead as Jesse
James, cute though he be."

Jack told Fritz and the sheriff what occurred, and what he now intended
to do.

They agreed with his plan.

In fact it was the only feasible thing to do.

Accordingly Jack selected the most likely trail.

He then sent the Terror flying off after it, and she sped along until
the afternoon set in before they finally sighted the man they were
after.

Then they saw that he was Frank James.

CHAPTER X.
FRANK JAMES' ESCAPE.

Frank James was mounted upon his horse Jim Malone, and had paused on the
crest of a hill from whence he gazed back at the bottom traversed by the
Terror.

He saw the stage, and realized at once that it had followed his
particular trail to the exclusion of the rest of the band.

It was clear enough to him that he could not outstrip the Terror in a
running race, and would therefore be obliged to retain his liberty by
resorting to strategy.

What course he could follow would depend entirely upon circumstances,
but he turned over fifty plans in his mind.

Jack was a league from the man when he recognized him, but he had a
powerful field glass, which plainly showed him every feature of Frank
James' face.

"The rascal sees us," he commented.

"Wot's he standin' thar for like a statoo?" asked Tim.

"Probably sizing up our intentions."

"Dot retskal vos a gone goose," said Fritz, decisively.

"Better wait till you get your paws on him before you feel so certain
about it," dryly remarked the sheriff. "If you knew the James Boys as
well as I do, you would realize that no slipperier men exist on the face
of the earth. Just when you are surest you have them is the time you
haven't got the scoundrels. Ha! There he goes!"

Frank had galloped away.

He went down the other side of the hill.

In a few moments he disappeared from view.

Jack increased the speed of the stage.

She ran ahead like a locomotiv