eavier and heavier. As he reached the end, his companion, who
had dominated the passengers with his gun, abandoned his position and
came down the aisle. At the rear door he turned.

"Keep your seats till the train moves," he ordered harshly. "I'm layin'
for the first man that sticks his head out of this car."

Behind him the coach buzzed like a disturbed hive. Its occupants
bewailed their losses, vowed vengeance on both holdups and railway.
Women reproached men with cowardice. Men told each other what they
would have done if---- But not one attempted to leave his seat.

Nita turned to Clyde with sparkling eyes. "And now I've been in a
holdup!" she exclaimed. "Won't that be a thing to tell the girls? Were
you frightened, Clyde? _I_ wasn't."

"I don't think so," Clyde replied. "I'm glad we saved our watches." The
words recalled the man across the aisle. He was leaning back, listening
to odd bits of conversation, a smile of amusement on his face. Clyde
leaned across.

"I want to thank you," she said. "We should never have thought of
hiding our watches."

He nodded pleasantly. "No, not likely. I hope you didn't lose much
money. He left me ten dollars. I don't want to be misunderstood, but
that's very much at your service until you can get more."

"And what shall you do--till pay day?" she asked, obeying a sudden
mischievous impulse.

"Oh, I'll worry along," he replied. His long arm stretched across, and
a ten-dollar bill fell in her lap.

"No, no," she said, "I was joking. I have plenty----"

She stopped suddenly. Somewhere toward the head of the train a revolver
barked, and barked again. Then came a staccato fusillade.

Swiftly the man across the aisle reached for his bundle, tore it open,
and plucked from it a long-barrelled, flat-handled, venomous automatic
pistol and a box of cartridges. He slid out the clip, snapped it back,
and went down the car in long pantherlike bounds, bending half double.

Up forward the shooting, which had ceased, began again. Suddenly there
broke into it the voice of another weapon, rapid and sustained as the
roll of an alarm clock. Other guns chimed in. A miniature battle seemed
to be in progress. And then it died. An occasional shot came from the
distance. Silence ensued.

Men whose curiosity got the better of prudence left the car and
returned. The train robbers were gone. It was thought that two or three
were wounded. It was the express messenger who had started the
shooting