The Broncho Rider Boys with Funston at Vera Cruz | Page 6

tell them I'm coming," and he
stood in the middle of the track looking ruefully after the rapidly
disappearing car.
After some moments he picked up the claw-bar and threw it spitefully
into the ditch beside the track, as much as to say, "Lay there! You're the
cause of all the trouble." Then he started slowly after the car.
In the meantime Adrian was flying as fast back toward Pachuca as he
had been flying away from it only a few minutes before. It could not
have been more than ten minutes altogether since the wreck of the
engine and Adrian figured that if the grade were steep enough the car
might gain momentum enough to carry it back to the scene of the
trouble; but he had little hope that it would.
When he shot through Pitahaya on his return trip, however, he saw that
the car was going at a terrific rate of speed.
"What do you think?" he asked one of the Mexicans. "Do you think
we'll get all the way back?"
"Cierto," was the reply. "When they first built this road they used to
have mules haul the car to the top of this hill and then turn it loose and
it would run almost to Pachuca. That was before it had any engines."
Adrian looked at the man and winked one eye very slowly.
"Señor, it is true," spoke up another. "I was a guard at the time."
Adrian could scarcely believe the statement, but he afterward learned
that the men spoke the truth.
"Well, then," he said, "we had better look to our arms, for we may need
them. There is no knowing how this affair has turned out."
The advice was well taken, for as they drew near the scene of the wreck,

they saw that they were badly needed. More than a dozen horsemen
were in sight at some distance from the wreck and with their long-range
rifles were doing their best to pick off any one who showed his head.
"Our party must be out of ammunition," suggested Adrian, "or they
would give a better account of themselves."
"Our carbines would not carry that far," explained one of the guards.
"Our Marlins will," replied Adrian, and as he spoke there were two
simultaneous flashes from two of the car windows and two of the
bandits fell, one shot from his horse and the other with his horse shot
under him.
For a moment the other horsemen hesitated as to the course they should
pursue and then, putting spurs to their horses, they dashed toward the
train, just as the express car, having reached the end of the track,
bumped onto the ties and came to a stop.
"Now!" cried Adrian as the riders drew near, firing as they came, and
four shots rang out.
The volley from so unexpected a quarter took the horsemen completely
by surprise, and they pulled up with a jerk. The action proved their
undoing, for as they stood thus for a moment, they gave those in the
train the opportunity they desired and the volley that followed turned
four more riderless horses upon the plain.
It was more than flesh and blood could stand, and the seven or eight
remaining horsemen turned and fled, followed by at least three
whistling bullets from as many Marlins.
The fight was over and the bullion had been saved, but what of
Broncho Billie, who had been left at the top of the hill four miles
away?
That was the first question asked by Donald when he greeted Adrian
two minutes later.

"Oh, he's all right," was the laughing reply. "He's just taking a little
walk for his health."
But when Billie failed to put in an appearance an hour later, the boys
mounted their horses and started up the track to meet him, leading
Billie's mount between them.
CHAPTER III.
BILLIE LOSES HIS NERVE.
Broncho Billie was not a rapid walker. In fact, if there was any one
thing in which Billie was not a success, it was walking. He could ride a
horse all day, but when it came to depending upon his own legs as a
means of locomotion, he was a dead failure.
Therefore he walked slowly along, counting the ties as he went.
"They certainly do lay 'em thick," he mused after some minutes. "Three
hundred and one, three hundred and two, three hundred and three, three
hundred and four, three hun----"
He stopped short and looked behind him.
"I sure thought I heard some one," he muttered. "It must have been a
bird."
He turned and started forward.
"Let's see, where was I? Oh, yes, three hundred and five, three hundred
and six, three hundred and----"
Again he stopped, but did not turn around. Instead he