Chapter 10

The train ride was uneventful for the first couple of hours, but things changed at a water stop out in the middle of nowhere. Ezra woke a dozing Sean with a poke in the ribs and the comment, "Wake up, pardner. We may have trouble. This here stop's takin' longer than it should."

As Sean was gathering his wits, there came a sharp explosion. "That sounds like dynamite! Come on, pardner, we better take a look!" Ezra jumped to his feet and shouted to the alarmed passengers, "Calm down, folks. We're Rangers. Let us look into it."

Ezra and Sean rushed toward the head of the train where the noise had originated. They went out on the platform and Ezra looked around the car ahead and jerked back as a bullet whizzed passed his head. "Some yahoos are robbin' the express car. They got guards out. Let's get 'em from the roof!"

Helping each other, the two Rangers climbed on to the roof of the car in front and ran toward the engine. They came to the express car roof and Ezra said, "Ya take the guard on that side and I'll take this one." They drew their guns and Sean nodded. Sean had an easy shot, since he was on the right side, and he got his man with the first shot. But Ezra had a more difficult shot and had to lean out over the car's edge to see his man. Sean's shot had been enough ahead of Ezra that his opponent was alerted to trouble and was ready when Ezra appeared. Ezra shot first, but only wounded his man, who also got a shot off. The bullet grazed Ezra's side, a couple of inches more toward his middle and Ezra would have been dead! Ezra got off another shot and this was enough to finish the outlaw.

"How bad is it!" asked Sean.

"Not enough to bother with, right now," answered Ezra. "He'p me down an' I'll cover ya while ya take care of the bandits in the express car."

They had just moved toward the end of the roof when two bullets came punching through the roof where they had been standing. Sean grunted, "Well, now we know there's at least two of 'em inside this here express car. We better take care of 'em afore they hurt somebody!"

The two Rangers scrambled to the ground, though Ezra moved more gingerly. As they moved toward the middle of the express car, they could see where the door had been blown open, probably by the dynamite blast that had alerted them to the trouble. Suddenly, a head poked around the edge of the door opening and then jerked back. The Rangers realized that they had been seen and ducked under the express car. Ezra grumbled, "Shit! This here job jus' got a lot harder when that there yahoo seen us!"

Sean said, "Ya better stay here while I take care of whoever is guardin' the engine. We don't want 'em sneaking up behin' us." Ezra nodded and Sean stayed under the car until he had moved up to the front truck (wheels) of the express car. At his point, he was forced to move into the open, but he stayed as close to the car and the tender (coal and water car) as he could manage. He reached the engine cab without being noticed; the inside of a steam engine cab is so noisy that it's very difficult to hear anything.

Sean put his sombrero on the ground and carefully sneaked a peek into the cab. He was barely tall enough to see in, but he could tell that there was a wounded man on the floor and another man was trying to administer first aid. Both of these men were wearing coveralls, so Sean figured that they must be the crew. Another man was standing over them, menacing them with a drawn pistol. Sean figured that this was enough evidence to justify his action, so he fired a shot into the gunman's back.

Sean climbed into the cab and asked the well man to keep on trying to help the wounded man. Meanwhile, Sean verified that the gunman was dead and that he had been the only outlaw in the cab.

He made his way back to Ezra and said, "The cab's cleared, now. Anythin' changed here?"

"Nah, it's been quiet as a cemetery at midnight. What cha gonna do, now?"

"Well, I can't just climb in, that'd be askin' fer a bullet. Ya think we kin talk 'em into surrenderin'?"

"I doubt it, but we kin try. Ya want me to try?" asked Ezra.

"Yeah, let's do it this way. I'll stand at one side of the door and ya stand at the other. I'll cover ya while ya're talkin'. I'll shoot ifen there's any funny business. That OK with ya?"

"Suits me."

"Ya take the right side an' I'll take the left. That'll give me a better angle ifen I have to shoot."

The two Rangers moved to their positions and Ezra called out, "Y'all in the express car, we're Rangers and we want y'all to surrender. Y'all will get a fair trial, ya know that."

"Fuck y'all. We know we'll hang if we give up now," was the reply.

"This here is y'all's last chance. Give up now or get shot. Which is it?"

A shot came from inside the express car in answer. Sean caught a glimpse of the shooter from the muzzle flash and snapped off a shot. There was a cry of pain and the sound of a body falling to the floor.

From inside the express came a voice, "Hold yer fire, Ranger! I'm comin' out with the express agent at the end of my gun. One false move an' he's dead."

"OK, come on. We won't shoot ya," answered Ezra.

Two men inched their way to the door, with the express agent in front. The outlaw held a gun to his head, set on full cock. When they got to the doorway, the agent suddenly ducked his head and jumped to the ground. This caught the bandit by surprise, so he missed when he pulled the trigger, though the powder did burn the agent's hair. Sean was still holding his pistol at full cock, so he fired immediately after the bandit, killing him at once.

Ezra pulled the express agent to his feet and congratulated him, "That was slick! Ya pulled that off, perfectly."

"Thanks to y'all, I'm still alive to hear ya. I'm much obliged."

"Don't mention it. We're jus' doin' our job."

Sean asked, "Where's the conductor? We need to talk to him."

"He was in the express car with me. He's dead. He tried to outdraw an already drawn pistol. I don't know who's in charge."

"It looks like we are. My friend here is wounded an' there's a wounded man in the engine. Ya he'p Ezra to the baggage car where he kin lie down and I'll go check on the engine."

Sean climbed back to the engine cab to find the dead bandit pulled back among the coal and the wounded man lying out flat on the floor. The other man was sitting down, but stood up when Sean showed up. "I want to thank ya, sir. Yer quick action saved our lives. I'm the engineer an' that there is Joe, the fireman."

"Kin ya he'p me git Joe to the baggage car where he can lie down more comfortable-like? Then, kin ya run this here train to the next station ifen I he'p? Ya'll have to tell me what to do, cuz I don't know nothin' 'bout runnin' a train."

"Sure, we kin do that. Let's get Joe to the baggage car an' we kin get started."

They limped into the station at Jacksonville and called for a new crew and express car. Sean and Ezra took care of their Ranger business at the local office and relaxed in the saloon until the train was ready to leave for Corpus Christi. Ezra remarked, "I swear to goshen, I ain't gonna interfere in no more train robberies! That there paperwork was a killer."

"Yeah, I agree. I thought we'd never finished that there paperwork the railroad wanted. I can't understan' why they need so much writin' about a little shootin'!"

"Hey, that sounds like the train whistle. Finish yer beer and let's get aboard. The sooner we git to Corpus Christi, the happier I'll be."

It was the middle of the night when they got to Corpus Christi, so there was no one to meet them at the station. They really didn't care; they just wanted to sleep. Complaining all the way, they walked the three blocks to the Ranger station and checked in with the night clerk. He directed then to the barracks where they found a couple of empty beds and were asleep almost before they lay down.

The next morning, after breakfast, they reported to Capt. Silas Benson at his office. After saluting and sitting down, Ezra said, "We were told that ya needed us cuz we weren't known in Corpus. What's this all about?"