Jack Wright and His Electric Stage, Noname [ebook reader with android os .TXT] 📗
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Tim eyed him with a mystified look.
He did not know whether to accept this reply as a direct insult or to take it as a belief in his veracity.
"Wot d'yer mean?" he asked.
"Simply this–you are the most outrageous old liar I ever came in contact with!" replied Timberlake.
"Oh!" cried Tim, in horror. "Listen ter him! You wait till I finish this ere yarn, an' see if I'm tellin' ther truth."
"I'm afraid I won't live long enough to wait until you finish that story," dryly answered the sheriff. "It would be too long a wait on my part, and—"
But Fritz interrupted him just there by shouting:
"Dere dey go–dere dey go!"
Timberlake opened the front door.
"Who–the bandits?" he asked eagerly.
"Yah."
"Where are they?"
"Dey go among dem rocks."
The stage had by this time run around the fire.
The James Boys must have curved their course toward the very direction to which the Terror was running, for Fritz had suddenly caught view of them.
They were heading for the rocks at the base of a rugged range of hills directly ahead of the electric stage.
Jack noticed a number of gorges, gulches and canyons splitting the towering hills and cliffs ahead, and observed that the bandits were heading for one of them.
He pointed this out to his companions.
"They don't see us yet!" he exclaimed, "but they will the moment they glance back this way!"
"I think I know where they are going," said Timberlake.
"Where?' asked Jack.
"Into Dead Man's Gulch."
"What would bring them there?"
"A huge cave, where the James Boys sometimes retreat."
"Can we reach it with this stage?"
"Yes. But once they get in they could hold us at bay."
"We will see about that when we run them to cover!"
In single file the bandits rode into the dark gulch, and when it had swallowed up the last one Jack pulled over the lever and sent the Terror ahead at full speed.
She made rapid headway to the gulch and soon reached it.
"Where is the cave situated?" asked Jack.
"Opposite that big bowlder, on the left hand side," the sheriff replied. "You'd better put on your armor."
"I shall," Jack replied, as he stopped the Terror, "and you all had better arm yourselves, and prepare for trouble."
Their preparation, were hastily made.
As soon as everything was in readiness Jack alone went outside and assumed control of the wheel.
His friends ranged themselves at the windows.
All were well armed and ready for any danger.
In the course of a few minutes the Terror ran up to the big boulder and paused there.
Jack saw a mass of creeping vines that grew up the side of the wall, covering a dark aperture.
This was probably the cavern entrance.
He had scarcely noticed it when there sounded the sharp spiteful crack of a rifle behind the vines.
Ping! came a bullet.
It struck Jack squarely over the heart.
His breast plate flattened it and it fell harmless.
"A sentrys shot!" he muttered. "The villains know we are here now and the siege will soon begin."
THE BANDIT'S LAST SHOT.
"Timberlake, I think I can run the Terror into that cave."
"Look out you don't get her jammed in the entrance."
"Oh, I can clear the rocks on each side easily enough."
"Go ahead then."
Jack let the stage advance slowly.
A volley of rifle shots poured out of the cavern entrance.
The bullets did no harm, however, and the Terror continued on.
Reaching the opening she glided in, the hubs of her wheels grazing the rocks on each side, so close did she run.
Another volley met her.
It was lucky Jack had on his armor.
Had he not been so protected be might have perished.
Shot after shot struck him, and bullet after bullet hit the stage.
On she advanced unhesitatingly, though into a short gloomy passage, and then Jack turned on the search-light.
The dazzling glare gushed into an enormous cavern in which, the James Boys had ridden upon their horses.
At the sides there were ledges and galleries, above the roof was domed, and from the main cave numerous passages branched off in various directions.
Near one of these passages stood Siroc with Jesse James astride of his back, the bandit clutching a rifle.
The rest of the men were grouped behind him.
"Hulloa!" he shouted at Jack.
"Jesse James, I demand your surrender!" cried the inventor.
"Why should I?" demanded the bandit.
"Because you can't get away from here alive."
"That's all you know about it. There are plenty exits."
"Will you give in?"
"I want to compromise."
"That I'll never do!"
"I've got a great inducement—"
"You can make none to me."
"Come here, and you'll see."
A suspicion of treachery flashed over Jack's mind.
He turned to his companions, and said in low tones:
"We want him dead or alive. Fire at him!"
Before Jack's friends could obey, a grating sound was heard above the Terror, and the inventor glanced upward.
A cry of alarm escaped his lips.
Several of the bandits had gone up on the gallery above the Terror, and were pushing over a huge rock that rested there.
Just as Jack looked up it fell.
The rock must have weighed a ton.
It came down directly toward the roof of the Terror.
Jack gave the starting lever a sudden jerk, and the stage suddenly darted ahead.
She was too late to escape injury, though.
With a sickening crush the rock struck the rear end of the roof, crushing it like an egg shell, and going down on the platform, it carried it and the steps away.
A howl of joy escaped the James Boys.
They thought the terror was destroyed.
It was lucky Jack's friends were in the front room.
Although the machine was badly damaged, she was not crippled so she could not work.
The machinery had escaped injury, as Jack had caused her to run ahead just in the nick of time.
"Give it to them, boys!" panted Jack.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
The three shots struck the men in the gallery.
Not one of the villains knew what hit them.
"Again!" roared Jack.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
This time the shots were directed at the riders, and that set up a wild chorus of yells and plunged away.
It was clear enough to Jack that the bandit king had schemed to lure him over closer beneath the gallery so that the men up there would be sure to land the rock on the stage.
A rattling volley came back from the bandits' rifles.
Crack! Crack!
Crack! Crack!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The firing continued without cessation for several minutes, but when the Terror made a rush for the outlaws, it ceased.
Every one of them drove their horses into the passages, and were instantly swallowed up by the gloom.
Jack cut out the current and put on the brakes.
"They're gone. That settles it. We can't follow them into those narrow passages!" he exclaimed. "Let's destroy this place and go out!"
He procured several of the hand grenades, to which binding screws were attached, planted them in niches in the walls, joined them in series by copper wires, and from the two end ones ran two lead wires to the dynamo.
Jack ran the stage out into the gulch.
There he turned a current of electricity into the wires, the bombs were burst, and the cave was blown up.
It was completely wrecked.
The roof fell in, the walls caved in, the passages were choked up with debris, and it was rendered utterly useless as a place of resort again for the outlaws.
Jack sent the stage dashing through the gulch.
It emerged into a valley through which ran a stream which wound in and out among the hills.
Instead of finding the bandits there though, Jack was chagrined to see that the passages they followed had led them up into the hills.
He saw some of the villains speeding away on their horses for the other side of the range.
It was not possible to follow them up there amid the tangled shrubbery and tumbled rocks with the stage.
"The only course to pursue," Jack commented, "is to go around the base of the hills and try to reach them that way."
"It's a mighty long course, my lad," said Tim.
"That's so; but there is no alternative."
"Vhere yer tink dey go now, Dimperlake?" asked Fritz.
"Out of the State, as fast as possible," the sheriff answered.
"Vhy yer tink me dot?"
"Because they've made a rich haul from the Husking Valley Bank, and we have sickened them with this section of the country. They are not used to such rough treatment."
"The James Boys won't leave Missouri until after I land them in prison," resolutely said Jack, "I've come here to do it and I won't be baffled. You know I've got the money they stole from the Wrightstown Bank. Now I'm going to get the governor's reward, or know the reason why."
"If you think you can do it, I'm with you heart and soul," replied the sheriff. "My chief ambition as to break up that gang, and get the nippers on those dare devil brothers."
"To leave the State what place would they go to first?"
"Well, as near as I can judge, the nearest railroad center to this place is Macon City."
"Direct me how to get there."
The sheriff complied.
Jack had to steer the stage around the hills.
She finally reached the table-land on the other side, and a survey was made with telescopes.
In the far distance a horseman was seen.
He looked not much bigger than a fly on the distant horizon, and Jack at once jumped at the conclusion that he might be one of the outlaw gang.
He, therefore, pursued the man.
As he drew near Macon City they were close enough to recognize him as Jesse James mounted on Siroc.
Not one of the rest of the band were in sight for the simple reason that they had scattered and gone in different directions to reach the city singly and in pairs at intervals so as not to excite the suspicion of the inhabitants.
Jesse had seen the stage long before.
He was riding like the wind.
His fine horse seemed to realize the threatening danger and was straining every muscle to outstrip the Terror.
It was in vain.
Nearer and nearer drew the stage.
For a moment Jack was tempted to drive the ram into the gallant horse and thus end the race.
But when he saw what a magnificent beast it was and realized how nobly it was striving to bear its master out of the reach of his foes the inventor relented.
He did not have the cruelty of heart to kill it.
All he wanted was the rider.
So he shouted:
"Halt!"
"Only when I'm dead!" yelled Jesse.
"Then I'll shoot you."
"Two can play at that game!"
As the stage rolled up to the horse, Jack and the bandit were aiming their pistols at each other.
For a moment a deathly silence ensued.
Crack–bang!
The two reports sounded as one.
Jack was unhurt.
But Jesse James flung up his hands and toppled headlong to the ground, with blood gushing from a wound upon his head, and his face looking like that of a corpse.
Siroc galloped on, and the Terror paused.
CONCLUSION.
The moment the bandit king fell from the saddle, Jack sprang to the ground and rushed over to him.
Planting his foot on the breast of the fallen man and raising his pistol in the air, Jack shouted:
"Victory!"
"Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah!" cheered his friends.
In a moment they were beside the young inventor.
"Did you kill him?" asked Timberlake.
"No it's only a scalp wound," Jack answered.
"Let me handcuff him."
"Your surmise was correct about the gang heading for Macon City."
"I know what their general habits are."
The sheriff handcuffed the bandit king.
He was utterly unconscious from the shot.
Fritz and Tim were so delighted they shook hands fervently, let off several emphatic expletives and fairly danced.
"Gee whiz, he's captured at last!" roared the sailor.
"Shiminey Christmas, Dim, who oxbected dot alretty?"
"An' ther rest o' his crew must be in harbor in that town."
"Fer sure. Ve vhas bound ter foundt 'em mit der railroat depot."
"Carry the prisoner aboard the Terror, boys," said Jack.
Tim and Fritz did this.
Siroc ran on to the town and vanished.
When Jack realized this a grave look crossed his face.
"I'm sorry the horse escaped!" he exclaimed, regretfully.
"Why so?" asked Timberlake, with some show of surprise. "You could not do anything with that animal. There are very few people in the world who can ride him unless Jesse puts the
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