Major Davis backed quickly out of the car, holding his weapon behind his back as he dropped to the ground beside the car.

He did not look to see whether the rookies were behind him, but they were.

Ahead, and about them, all was black, save for the light that came through the car windows.

In a twinkling, out of the fringe of darkness, almost beside the recruits, stepped a masked man.

“Back, all three of you.  Back into the car!” called the masked man sharply.

Major Davis wheeled like a flash, bringing his revolver to bear.  But he could not use it.  A sudden move of the recruits prevented.

“Noll!” called Hal sharply, and threw himself to the ground before the masked ruffian.

Like a flash Hal wrapped his arms around the knees of the masked robber.  In almost the same instant Hal struggled to his feet, carrying the unknown’s legs up with him.

Of course the ruffian toppled over backward.  But Noll, who had darted to his chum’s aid, hurled himself upon the fellow, striking him hard three times between the eyes.

The masked man’s revolver was discharged as he toppled over backward, but the bullet sped harmlessly off into the night.

In another second Hal had the fellow’s revolver.

“Fix him, Noll!” called Private Overton, darting forward to the officer’s side.

“I have, already,” muttered Noll.  But he bent for an instant over the unconscious ruffian’s body, then darted forward.

“Here’s his box of cartridges, Hal,” panted Noll.

All this had seemed to occupy but a few seconds.

“Splendidly done!” glowed Major Davis.  “Now come forward, and support me.”

At the moment of the discharge of the pistol the uncoupled engine started forward, away from the train, with a hissing of steam.  This noise must have drowned out the noise of the single shot from the train robbers up forward.

Suddenly Major Davis shot out his left arm, and Hal, bumping against it, halted beside the officer.

“There are two of the men, standing by the mail car,” whispered the major.  “Raise your revolver.  Ready!  Fire!”

Both the major’s revolver and Hal’s spat out jets of flame.  Both poured their shots in rapidly at the two men whom they could just make out in the darkness ahead.

Then Hal had a sudden, new sensation, not by any means agreeable.

The two men, neither hit so far, turned and raised their own weapons.  It seemed like two bright cascades of flame just ahead, as the ruffians fired, kneeling.

Bullets whistled close to the major and the two recruits on either side.

Then, just as suddenly, one of the ruffians toppled over; it was impossible to tell whether Major Davis or Hal Overton had scored the hit.

Thereupon, the other man, lowering his weapon, leaped for the steps of the mail car and vanished.

Major Davis ran forward, followed by both recruits.  Noll was intent on getting a revolver for himself.

But Davis, more accustomed to the ways of fighting men, suddenly crouched low, peering under the body of the car just behind the mail coach.

Almost immediately the major began to fire again, in answer to shots that came from underneath the car.

But Noll waited for nothing.  His sole thought was to possess a weapon.  He halted over the fallen one, snatched an empty revolver from his side, then saw that the man was wounded in the right breast.

“You must have some cartridges,” muttered Noll, rummaging in the fellow’s clothes.

He found the box just in time.

“Lie down, you two!” called Major Davis sharply to Hal and Noll.  “You’ll be fired on from ahead.”

Hal threw himself flat, and none too soon, for now a gust of bullets swept down from the head of the train.

As coolly as he could Hal Overton reloaded.  Noll, also lying flat on the ground, was similarly engaged.

Hal was ready to fire first.  There was need of it, too, for he could dimly make out two men, near the extreme head of the train, who were firing rapidly and firing their weapons in a fashion that drove up spurts of dirt all about the recruits.

For a few seconds the fight seemed as serious to those engaged in it as battle on a larger scale could have been.

Major Davis now made the first direct move.  He crawled swiftly under the car, putting himself on the same side with the man he was after.

There was more shooting on the other side of the train; then, suddenly it stopped.

The two ahead, who were engaging Hal and Noll, dodged off to the side of the track into the darkness.  Now, all firing stopped, for all weapons were empty.

“I hope that other scoundrel didn’t get the major!” throbbed Hal anxiously.

Yet he couldn’t go to see.  He had his own work on this side of the train.

“Where are our pair?” whispered Noll, creeping closer.

“I don’t know,” Hal answered, also in a whisper.  “But crawl off a little way.  Bunching together gives ’em a better mark to hit.”

Lying flat on the ground, both recruits played the waiting game.

Had the pair ahead stolen off altogether in the darkness?

“I’ll wait a few moments,” Hal decided.  “Then, if I don’t hear from the scoundrels, I’ll cross over to see what has happened to Major Davis.”

Crack! crack! crack!  The vanished pair of train robbers were opening fire again, from behind a boulder that sheltered them admirably.  Hal and Noll had no protection other than they could get from lying close to the ground.  But they answered the fire briskly.

Crack! crack! crack!  As fast as revolvers were emptied the marksmen reloaded and again began firing.  In daylight the execution would have been swifter, but all hits made in black darkness are made by the grace of luck.

In the first place the only target anyone in the combat had was the flash of an opponent’s pistol.

The train robbers behind the ledge changed their positions after nearly every shot.  And Hal and Noll, after the warm, uncomfortable experience of having bullets fan their faces persistently, found it advisable to crouch low and dart here and there, firing from new positions.

All this time the scores of people on the train were sitting in terrified silence.  Passengers or train crews rarely interfere in a case of this kind.

Not even the train’s lights aided either side, for the two young recruits had taken pains to close in on the ledge sufficiently to escape illumination by the train’s lights.

Crack! crack! crack!  This was a new note, coming from past the forward end of the ledge.

Almost in the same instant a howl sounded from behind the barrier of rock.

Then another voice was heard, shouting.

“Hold on!  We surrender!  Stop the shooting!”

Instantly this hail was answered by another.  It sounded good to the young recruits as Major Davis roared from behind the forward end of the ledge: 

“Then throw up your hands, keep them up, and walk into the train light where we can see you.”

“You won’t shoot?” demanded the voice of the surrendering one.

“Not unless you attempt tricks,” replied the voice of Major Davis.

“All right.  Here I come.”

A lone figure rose over the edge of the ledge, and a tall, masked man, holding his hands very high, strode toward the train, passing between Hal and Noll, who instantly turned and covered him with their weapons.

“Where’s the other man?” demanded Major Davis, still invisible in the blackness beyond.

“You’ll find him behind the ledge,” returned the surrendered one.  “He’s hurt too bad to move.”

“Overton,” called the major, “keep your weapon trained right on that prisoner.  Terry, join me behind the ledge.”

“Yes, sir,” answered both recruits.

Noll was quickly with the major on the further side of the ledge.  Here they speedily found a masked man, short and rather thick-set, who had the appearance of being unconscious.  He was breathing with great effort, a deep crimson spot appearing on his right breast.

“May I ask, sir, about the man you went under the train to get?” queried Noll.

“He’s dead, my man,” replied Major Davis very quietly.

“Shall I try to lift this man, sir?”

“No; take his revolver, and search him for other weapons, as far as you can do so without disturbing the fellow and putting him in more pain.  We’ll let that hiding train crew move the casualties to the baggage car.”

So Noll completed his search, while the conductor, baggage-master and some of the brakemen, noting that the firing had stopped, ventured forth.

“You trainmen take care of the dead and wounded,” directed Major Davis crisply.  “Terry, rejoin your comrade.  I shall have to trouble you two men to stand guard over the prisoners in the baggage car until we reach Salida.”

Both recruits saluted.  Noll returned to the track in time to find that the first man whom he and Hal had bowled over was just coming back to his senses.