It proved that he was not the only one who had his suspicions, for as he swung himself upon the engine the following morning some one stepped from out of the motley crowd collected about the station and thrusting a sc.r.a.p of paper into his hand instantly disappeared.

As soon as they were fairly on their way Jack smoothed out the crumpled paper to read in a scrawling hand:

"Look out for the bush-raiders to-day."

The sheet bore no signature or date.

"Looks like a scare by some one," remarked Jack, as he handed the missive to Fret. "But there can be no harm in keeping a sharp lookout," he admitted. "I suppose the trouble has got to begin soon, and it might as well be to-day as to-morrow."

Fret Offut, whose stock of courage was small, turned pale, as he read the brief message:

"You ain't going to keep on, Jack?"

"What else are we hired for? We should be the laughing stock of the country if we stopped now."

"But this warning makes it different."

"Not a bit as I can see. We came up here expecting to take our chances, and as for me it seems the bush-raiders have been very modest in opening proceedings. It is too late for us to turn back. I--"

"No--no! Stop, Jack, and I will get off."

"If you don't get off until I stop you will ride into de la Pama. Now don't be foolish and let that little piece of paper upset you. It was no more than we expected. Keep a cool head and stand to your post.

"It may not be as bad as it threatens. But if you persist in leaving you can do so when we have made this trip. I don't propose to be left in the lurch by losing my fireman at a time I cannot afford to let him go."

Jack's quiet determination and a.s.surance served to quiet Fret's fears, so he said nothing further about quitting his duty.

After leaving St. Resa, the train, which was a mixed one, made up of two pa.s.senger coaches and a dozen freight cars, had to stop at irregular intervals, following which the road ran through a twenty-mile wilderness, the most of the way rugged in the extreme.

It was during this part of the journey that Jack expected trouble if anywhere, and as he approached the broken region he kept a sharp watch on every hand.

Fret, though pale and trembling, kept his post.

"Give me every pound of steam possible," said Jack. "If we don't go through Whirlwind Gap flying it will be because the old engine has lost her cunning."

They were now rushing along at a tremendous rate of speed considering the condition of the track, and the old engine rocked and lurched as if it would leave the track at any moment. There were but a few pa.s.sengers aboard, for only those who were compelled to do so traveled during this dangerous period. Jack knew there was a valuable freight behind him, to say nothing of human lives, and he was determined to get into de la Pama if it lay in his power.

Thus, with a full realization of the peril of his situation, he was standing at his post, with one hand on the throttle and the other on the reversing lever, peering intently ahead, taking in every object as they sped furiously over the rails, when he suddenly beheld a sight which for a moment fairly took away his breath.

They were swiftly approaching the foot of a high bluff, upon the top of which he had discovered a dozen of the bush-raiders looking down upon him.

But they were not the most startling part of what he saw and heard.

As the train dashed madly under the rocky wall, above its terrific thunder rang a deafening crash, and he saw with horror a huge bowlder coming down the side of the cliff, directly toward the engine!

It had been loosened from its bed by the bush-raiders, and so well had they timed their work that it would be impossible for the engine to get beyond its reach before the rock should fall upon it!

It would be equally hazardous to try and stop the train.

Fret Offut had seen the appalling sight, and with a despairing cry, feeling that it would be death to remain on the engine, he leaped far out over the embankment.

"Fret!" cried Jack, but no answer came back to the call.

Jack North felt that it was all over with him, but true to the instinct of his nature, he stood bravely at his post.

Chapter X

A Narrow Escape

With the wild cry of Fret Offut and the exultant yells of the bush-raiders ringing in his ears above the thunder of the rushing train, Jack North heard the ominous crash, of the descending bowlder, and saw with a dazed look its swift approach.

The locomotive, throbbing and panting like a human being in a race for life, was fairly flying along the winding track.

It all lasted but a moment, the downward rush of the deadly body, the cries of exultation and despair, the lightning-like pa.s.sing of the fatal spot by the engine, and the ordeal was over as quickly as it had come!

The descent of the ponderous missile was swift and sure until a projection on the side of the cliff was reached, when with a terrific concussion the bowlder glanced. It suddenly shot outward like a cannon ball, and was carried fairly over the engine into the gulch below.

Jack witnessed this miraculous movement with breathless eagerness bordering upon terror.

The huge rock pa.s.sed so near that it sc.r.a.ped the top of the caboose, and the current of air it raised swept the boy engineer's cap from his head.

The train had got its length beyond the place before Jack could realize that he had escaped.

The bush-raiders reminded him of it then, if he needed any further notification, by a volley of bullets and renewed yells of rage.

Though some of the leaden missiles flew uncomfortably near his head, Jack was unharmed, and as he was borne on by the iron horse around the next curve in the track, leaving his enemies out of sight, he offered a prayer of thankfulness for his providential escape.

Fret, he was certain, must have been killed by his mad leap from the engine. As much as he would have liked to have gone back and looked for the youth, he knew such a course would have been the height of folly.

Besides his own life to look after, there were the pa.s.sengers who had intrusted themselves to his care.

"Poor Fret! I could do no good now, and I must remember the others. If you had only remained on the engine it would have been better for you."

To his infinite relief, Jack saw nor heard nothing further of the baffled bush-raiders, who must have been greatly surprised at the escape of the train with its rich freight.

At the first station, which was several miles away from the scene of the outlaws' attack, the young engineer told of the loss of his fireman and his own narrow escape from death, when an armed squad of men started to search for the body of the missing youth, and to rout the bush-raiders if they could be found.

Finding an a.s.sistant at this place, Jack finished his run to de la Pama and then came back to this station, which was known as Resaca.

The relief party had not returned, but Jack was told that a bridge had been found to be unsafe for the pa.s.sage of the train, so he could not reach St Resa that day, while it might be a week before the road would be in a condition to resume his regular trips. But he was willingly allowed to start after the relief party with the engine and one car, accompanied by a dozen armed men.

They were approaching the bridge mentioned, when they met the others coming back, bearing in their midst the lifeless form of Fret Offut.

Jack immediately stopped to have the body of his a.s.sociate put on the car, when he started on the return to Resaca.