CHAPTER XV
BOB EARNS HIS PASSAGE
All of a tremble at his narrow escape from falling under the car, Bob was trying to recover his self-control before getting down from his precarious position, when he was startled to hear a voice exclaim:
"I'll get even with that 'con' for putting me off the blind baggage, see if I don't!"
The tone in which the words were uttered was so venomous, that Bob realized the speaker meant mischief, though he was ignorant of the fact that in the slang of tramps who beat their way on railroads, "con" betokened conductor, and "blind baggage" the platform of the coach in a passenger train nearest the engine.
Looking about to find out where the angry man was, Bob could see no one.
But the next instant another voice asking, "How you goin' to do it?" decided him that the speakers must be crouching against the end of the empty coal car to which he was holding.
How he had failed to discover them from the top of the other car, he could not understand, but he soon ceased to wonder, in his eagerness to catch every word uttered by the unseen tramps.
"That's easy," replied the voice the boy recognized as having made the threat to "get even."
"Cut out that talk, and get down to business," growled a third voice.
"All right, 'Bo. We can put all sorts of crimps into this road by 'holding up' the night express! The officials of this road, whose men are too stingy to let a fellow ride on the blind baggage, are boasting they haven't had a 'hold-up' for years."
The various exclamations with which this wicked plan was greeted, told Bob not only that it met the approval of the tramps, but that there were more than two of them.
The full danger of a "hold-up" the boy did not realize. He remembered, however, having read of such occurrences out West where passengers were terrorized and robbed of money and jewelry.
But his speculation was again interrupted by the renewal of the conversation.
"That will sure set us even, but when can we do it?" inquired a voice eagerly.
"And get away safely?" added another.
"There's only one place," responded the voice of the man who had suggested the plot.
"Where?" chorused the others.
"On this end of the long bridge across the river."
"Right you are, 'Bo. We can make our 'get-away' down the bank and find some of the 'shanty men' to take us across."
"And into the arms of the police," sneered the ringleader. "We'll use the bank to escape, but we won't ask any favors of a 'shanty man'."
"Will there be enough money aboard to make it worth while?" inquired one of the schemers, with an evidently practical turn of mind.
"Sure; Number 4 always carries a bunch of gold for Western towns."
"But how'll we board her?" asked still another.
"Get a lantern and wave it."
"Will they stop?"
"Say, why do you suppose I chose the approach to the bridge?" snapped the man who had proposed the scheme.
And then, without giving his companions a chance to speak, he answered his question himself:
"Because the engineer'll think there is something wrong on the bridge and stop. It'll be dead easy."
Bob's eyes were almost popping out of his head, as, afraid to peep over the top of the car, he stared at the boards as though striving to see through them.
Straining his ears to catch every word, he heard another of the plotters begin to speak, when a train thundered past, effectually cutting off all conversation with its roar.
Though Bob did not know it, so absorbed was he in listening, less than five minutes had passed since he had started back for the caboose.
With the necessity of making a quick shift to the siding, the conductor of the freight train had momentarily forgotten the presence of his youthful charge, and when at last he did remember, it was with the supposition that he had remained in the cab with the engineer.
Accordingly, upon receipt of orders to proceed, Hosmer decided to let Bob ride longer in the cab, and shouted to his men to get aboard, waving his arm in the "go ahead" signal to the engineer.
But Bob had heard the shouts, and divining their meaning, jumped to the track, having no relish for riding farther in his dangerous position between the cars.
Fortunately, both the engineer and conductor saw the boy, as he leaped to the ground, and the signal to start was not obeyed.
Recovering his balance, Bob ran toward Hosmer.
As he drew near enough for the conductor to see his white, excited face, he exclaimed:
"Where have you been? I thought you were in the cab with Barney."
"I—I tried to go back over the cars," stammered Bob.
"Barney shouldn't have let you. It's too dangerous for a greenhorn."
Wincing at the words, which slipped out unconsciously as the conductor thought of what might have happened to the boy, Bob hastened to defend the engineer by saying:
"Mr. Barney didn't know I was going. I wanted to surprise you by showing you I could go back without your help. And—and then the train started, and I had to hang on to a coal car."
"Well, so long as you didn't get hurt, it's all right. But don't try it again. Now, run back and climb into the caboose. Let's see how quick you can do it."
The last was a diplomatic means to make the boy hurry, for the conductor was anxious to start the train, yet would not until he saw his charge safe in the caboose.
And his ruse was successful, for Bob, eager to show his speed, raced down the track and quickly swung aboard.
Smiling, Hosmer again signalled to Barney, the train started, and as the last car reached him, the conductor climbed on.
"Have any trouble when we started?" one of the brakemen was asking Bob as Hosmer entered the car.
"Pretty near. I was just crossing from a high to a low car, when the jerk came. But I managed to hang on."
"Good boy," chorused the train crew, all of whom realized too well the danger to which the boy had been subjected.
"But when we stopped on the siding, why didn't you get down?" asked the conductor.
"Because I was listening," announced Bob with a manner of mystery that would have been droll were his face not so serious.
"Listening?" exclaimed the others, instantly alert.
"Yes. I was just going to get down, when I heard some one speak, and then I waited."
"Hoboes," growled a brakeman, jumping up and seizing a short club. "What car were they on, kid?"
"The first coal car from the engine. But you mustn't go up there. They are bad men."
This warning was greeted with laughter by the brakemen, the others of whom had also picked up clubs.
The conductor, however, having a son of his own, realized from Bob's manner that the lad had something he wanted to tell but did not know how to begin, and accordingly asked him:
"What did you hear, son?"
"I heard them plan to hold up Number 4 to get even!"
"What?" demanded all the trainmen, their faces instantly growing serious.
"Yes; the man said he was going to get even for being put off the 'blind baggage'."
For a moment the members of the train crew looked at one another in amazement, then fell to plying Bob with questions, making him repeat the conversation over and over.
"Well, you've earned your passage to Fairfax, all right, Bob!" ejaculated the conductor. "It would break our record for being free from holdups, to say nothing of the loss to passengers. The company ought to do something handsome by you, my boy."
"Then you can prevent it?" queried Bob anxiously.
"Sure thing. We'll capture them at the next station. Better get ready, boys," added Hosmer significantly to his brakemen. "They may prove hard to handle."
Turning their backs, so Bob could not see exactly what they were doing, the brakemen opened a cupboard and took out some things which they slipped into the pockets of their jumpers.
But their preparations to capture the would-be train robbers went for naught.
When, led by Bob to the coal car, the brakemen surrounded and, at a word from the conductor, mounted it, they found the car empty.
"They have given us the slip!" growled a brakeman.
"Examine every car and truck on the train," commanded Hosmer. "I'll go to the station and send in the alarm. Come, Bob."
And together the conductor and the boy hastened to the station, where the full story was quickly flashed to headquarters at Omaha.
When the officials first received it, they were incredulous, asking if it could not have been a fancy of Bob's brain. But Hosmer quickly vouched for the boy's honesty, and word came back to have Bob put off to meet the road's officers at one of the stations.
During the run to that city, the brakemen speculated upon the chances of capturing the miscreants, lamenting the fact that the glory had been denied them.
Arrived at the city, Bob was taken to a room and closely questioned by the officers, who were soon convinced of the truth of his story.
"Could you identify them if caught?" he was asked.
"If I could hear them speak, I could recognize the voice of the man who proposed the plan. I did not get a look at them," replied Bob.
Satisfied with this answer, the officers sent instructions to have the tracks patrolled from Hastings to the long bridge, to search all trains, and to arrest any tramps found.
This done, arrangements were made to have other detectives at the bridge in case the men eluded capture.
The waiting was tedious. But at last, about three in the afternoon, word was received that four tramps, heavily armed, had been captured about ten miles from the Mississippi river.
Putting Bob into the cab of an engine, six officers climbed aboard, and a record run was made to the scene of the arrest.
"You sit where you can watch and hear them talk," whispered a detective in Bob's ear.
At first the prisoners were silent, but under the taunts of the officers, their reserve weakened, and they began to rail at the men who had captured them.
Eagerly, Bob listened, then cried, pointing to the smallest of the four:
"That's the man who said he'd get even. I recognize his voice!"