d flash of lightning, he had witnessed the descent of a great
tearing, tossing mass, landing in the railroad cut.

"It can mean only a hold-up," theorized Ralph. "Yes, I am quite
right."

He slowed down in his wild dash over the car tops, and proceeded with
caution. Down at the end of the train he saw lights that he knew did
not belong to the train hands.

Ralph neared the caboose and then dropped flat to the top of the car
he was on. Peering past its edge, he made out a wagon, half-a-dozen
men, and the train hands backed to the side of the cut and held
captive there by two of the strangers, who menaced them with
revolvers.

Then two others of the marauding gang took crowbars from the wagon,
and one, carrying a lantern, proceeded along the side of the cars
inspecting the freight cards.

"They must know of some valuable goods on the train," reflected
Ralph.

It was an ideal spot for a train robbery, between two stations, and no
train was due for several hours.

Ralph was in a quandary as to his best course of procedure. For a
moment he considered going for Griscom and arming himself with a bar
of rod.

"It would be six to two and we would get the worst of it," he decided.
"There is only one thing to do--get back to Brocton. It's less than a
mile. Can I make it before these fellows get away with their plunder?
Good! a patent coupler."

The boy fireman had crept to the end of the car next to the caboose.
Glancing down, he discovered that the couplings were operated by a
lever bar. Otherwise, he could never have forced up the coupling pin.

The cars were on a sharp incline, in fact, one of the steepest on the
road. Ralph relied on simple gravity to escape the robbers and hasten
for relief.

"There's some one!"

Careful as Ralph was, he was discovered. A voice rang out in warning.
Then with a quick, bold snap, Ralph lifted the coupler and the pin
shot out. He sprang to the forward platform of the caboose. As the car
began to recede, he dashed through its open door.

"Just in time. Whew!" ejaculated Ralph, "those fellows are desperate
men and doing this in true, wild western style."

The caboose, once started, began a rapid backward rush. Ralph feared
that its momentum might carry the car from the track.

A curve turned, and the lights of Brocton were in sight. Before the
runaway caboose slowed down entirely it must have gone fully
three-quarters of a mile.

Ralph jumped from the car, and ran down the t