Then two others of the marauding gang took crowbars from the wagon, and one, carrying a lantern, proceeded along the side of the cars inspecting the freight cards.
"They must know of some valuable goods on the train," reflected Ralph.
It was an ideal spot for a train robbery, between two stations, and no train was due for several hours.
Ralph was in a quandary as to his best course of procedure. For a moment he considered going for Griscom and arming himself with a bar of rod.
"It would be six to two and we would get the worst of it," he decided. "There is only one thing to do—get back to Brocton. It's less than a mile. Can I make it before these fellows get away with their plunder? Good! a patent coupler."
The boy fireman had crept to the end of the car next to the caboose. Glancing down, he discovered that the couplings were operated by a lever bar. Otherwise, he could never have forced up the coupling pin.
The cars were on a sharp incline, in fact, one of the steepest on the road. Ralph relied on simple gravity to escape the robbers and hasten for relief.
"There's some one!"
Careful as Ralph was, he was discovered. A
