d help, too. I hope those fellows don't come back here too
soon. If they'll hold off a few minutes we'll be all right, thanks to
you."

"Haven't you got a gun, Hank?" asked Jack.

"Gee, what a fool I am! Of course I have! A peach, too. They gave us
new automatic revolvers--only they don't revolve--a few weeks ago.
I'll get it."

He was not a moment too soon. The steps of the train wreckers, as they
returned, were heard outside, and in a moment Jack disappeared again.

"I'll be outside," he called to Hudson, from the window.

"Pretend to be tied up still, and get them covered. Then try to hold
them in there with your pistol. Don't shoot unless you have to, but
remember that they're bad men, and don't hesitate to shoot if that's
the only thing you can do."

In another minute the three tramps were inside the little station
again. Hudson had thrown the ropes about his body again, and had
stuffed the handkerchief in his mouth. They gave him a hasty glance.

"There's something wrong, Tom," said one of them, anxiously. "That
train ought to have been here a good hour ago. Wonder if that clicking
key means that there's anything loose that we ought to know about. We
ought to have had someone along that knows how to read that thing."

"Throw up your hands!"

Jack exulted as he heard Hudson, in a firm, ringing voice, give the
order. The operator had nerve--they would catch the robbers in the
neatest sort of a trap.

He slipped around to the door.

There was a snarl of rage from one of the men, while the others stood
in helpless surprise. The one who had cried out rushed at Hudson, and
a bullet whizzed by his ear.

"Stop!" cried Hudson, savagely. "I'll shoot to hit you next time."

"He's got us--better keep quiet," exclaimed another of the men, with a
savage curse. "That's what we got for leaving them alone here."

Jack stepped into the station.

"Keep them covered, Hank," he said. "You forgot me, too, you see," he
said to the men. "Now, keep your hands up and you won't get hurt. You
won't need your pistols where you're going, so I'll just take them away
from you now."

He was as good as his word, searching them for their concealed weapons,
and putting all three of the pistols that he found in a heap beside
Hudson. Then he released Tom Binns, and in the same moment there was
the sound of a distant whistle. A few minutes later an engineer drew
up outside, drawing a single car, and from it a d