If the troopers were all
together in the car next the one with the boxes of rifles, he
calculated that they might perhaps be taken unawares so sharply
as to render bloodshed unnecessary.
Concho was two miles from the summit, and when the three men
galloped down to the little station the headlight of the
approaching engine was already visible. They tied their horses in
the mesquit and lurked in the thick brush until the engine had
taken water and the signal for the start was given Then
O'Halloran and Bucky slipped across in the darkness to the train
and swung themselves to the platform of the last car. To Valdez,
very much against his will, had fallen the task of taking the
horses back to Agua Negra Since the track wound round the side of
the mountain in such a way as to cover five miles in making the
summit from Concho, the young Mexican had ample time to get back
to the scene of action before the train arrived.
The big Irishman and Bucky rested quietly in the shadows of the
back platform for some time. Then they entered the last car,
passed through it, and on to the next. In the sleeper they met
the conductor, but O'Halloran quietly paid their fares and passed
forward.
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