Chapter 19

THE BANDIT'S LAST SHOT.

"Timberlake, I think I can run the Terror into that cave."

"Look out you don't get her jammed in the entrance."

"Oh, I can clear the rocks on each side easily enough."

"Go ahead then."

Jack let the stage advance slowly.

A volley of rifle shots poured out of the cavern entrance.

The bullets did no harm, however, and the Terror continued on.

Reaching the opening she glided in, the hubs of her wheels grazing the rocks on each side, so close did she run.

Another volley met her.

It was lucky Jack had on his armor.

Had he not been so protected be might have perished.

Shot after shot struck him, and bullet after bullet hit the stage.

On she advanced unhesitatingly, though into a short gloomy passage, and then Jack turned on the search-light.

The dazzling glare gushed into an enormous cavern in which, the James Boys had ridden upon their horses.

At the sides there were ledges and galleries, above the roof was domed, and from the main cave numerous passages branched off in various directions.

Near one of these passages stood Siroc with Jesse James astride of his back, the bandit clutching a rifle.

The rest of the men were grouped behind him.

"Hulloa!" he shouted at Jack.

"Jesse James, I demand your surrender!" cried the inventor.

"Why should I?" demanded the bandit.

"Because you can't get away from here alive."

"That's all you know about it. There are plenty exits."

"Will you give in?"

"I want to compromise."

"That I'll never do!"

"I've got a great inducement---"

"You can make none to me."

"Come here, and you'll see."

A suspicion of treachery flashed over Jack's mind.

He turned to his companions, and said in low tones:

"We want him dead or alive. Fire at him!"

Before Jack's friends could obey, a grating sound was heard above the Terror, and the inventor glanced upward.

A cry of alarm escaped his lips.

Several of the bandits had gone up on the gallery above the Terror, and were pushing over a huge rock that rested there.

Just as Jack looked up it fell.

The rock must have weighed a ton.

It came down directly toward the roof of the Terror.

Jack gave the starting lever a sudden jerk, and the stage suddenly darted ahead.

She was too late to escape injury, though.

With a sickening crush the rock struck the rear end of the roof, crushing it like an egg shell, and going down on the platform, it carried it and the steps away.

A howl of joy escaped the James Boys.

They thought the terror was destroyed.

It was lucky Jack's friends were in the front room.

Although the machine was badly damaged, she was not crippled so she could not work.

The machinery had escaped injury, as Jack had caused her to run ahead just in the nick of time.

"Give it to them, boys!" panted Jack.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

The three shots struck the men in the gallery.

Not one of the villains knew what hit them.

"Again!" roared Jack.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

This time the shots were directed at the riders, and that set up a wild chorus of yells and plunged away.

It was clear enough to Jack that the bandit king had schemed to lure him over closer beneath the gallery so that the men up there would be sure to land the rock on the stage.

A rattling volley came back from the bandits' rifles.

Crack! Crack!

Crack! Crack!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The firing continued without cessation for several minutes, but when the Terror made a rush for the outlaws, it ceased.

Every one of them drove their horses into the passages, and were instantly swallowed up by the gloom.

Jack cut out the current and put on the brakes.

"They're gone. That settles it. We can't follow them into those narrow passages!" he exclaimed. "Let's destroy this place and go out!"

He procured several of the hand grenades, to which binding screws were attached, planted them in niches in the walls, joined them in series by copper wires, and from the two end ones ran two lead wires to the dynamo.

Jack ran the stage out into the gulch.

There he turned a current of electricity into the wires, the bombs were burst, and the cave was blown up.

It was completely wrecked.

The roof fell in, the walls caved in, the passages were choked up with debris, and it was rendered utterly useless as a place of resort again for the outlaws.

Jack sent the stage dashing through the gulch.

It emerged into a valley through which ran a stream which wound in and out among the hills.

Instead of finding the bandits there though, Jack was chagrined to see that the passages they followed had led them up into the hills.

He saw some of the villains speeding away on their horses for the other side of the range.

It was not possible to follow them up there amid the tangled shrubbery and tumbled rocks with the stage.

"The only course to pursue," Jack commented, "is to go around the base of the hills and try to reach them that way."

"It's a mighty long course, my lad," said Tim.

"That's so; but there is no alternative."

"Vhere yer tink dey go now, Dimperlake?" asked Fritz.

"Out of the State, as fast as possible," the sheriff answered.

"Vhy yer tink me dot?"

"Because they've made a rich haul from the Husking Valley Bank, and we have sickened them with this section of the country. They are not used to such rough treatment."

"The James Boys won't leave Missouri until after I land them in prison," resolutely said Jack, "I've come here to do it and I won't be baffled. You know I've got the money they stole from the Wrightstown Bank. Now I'm going to get the governor's reward, or know the reason why."

"If you think you can do it, I'm with you heart and soul," replied the sheriff. "My chief ambition as to break up that gang, and get the nippers on those dare devil brothers."

"To leave the State what place would they go to first?"

"Well, as near as I can judge, the nearest railroad center to this place is Macon City."

"Direct me how to get there."

The sheriff complied.

Jack had to steer the stage around the hills.

She finally reached the table-land on the other side, and a survey was made with telescopes.

In the far distance a horseman was seen.

He looked not much bigger than a fly on the distant horizon, and Jack at once jumped at the conclusion that he might be one of the outlaw gang.

He, therefore, pursued the man.

As he drew near Macon City they were close enough to recognize him as Jesse James mounted on Siroc.

Not one of the rest of the band were in sight for the simple reason that they had scattered and gone in different directions to reach the city singly and in pairs at intervals so as not to excite the suspicion of the inhabitants.

Jesse had seen the stage long before.

He was riding like the wind.

His fine horse seemed to realize the threatening danger and was straining every muscle to outstrip the Terror.

It was in vain.

Nearer and nearer drew the stage.

For a moment Jack was tempted to drive the ram into the gallant horse and thus end the race.

But when he saw what a magnificent beast it was and realized how nobly it was striving to bear its master out of the reach of his foes the inventor relented.

He did not have the cruelty of heart to kill it.

All he wanted was the rider.

So he shouted:

"Halt!"

"Only when I'm dead!" yelled Jesse.

"Then I'll shoot you."

"Two can play at that game!"

As the stage rolled up to the horse, Jack and the bandit were aiming their pistols at each other.

For a moment a deathly silence ensued.

Crack--bang!

The two reports sounded as one.

Jack was unhurt.

But Jesse James flung up his hands and toppled headlong to the ground, with blood gushing from a wound upon his head, and his face looking like that of a corpse.

Siroc galloped on, and the Terror paused.