10

Gad’s Hill, Missouri

train

Patrick’s eyes opened slowly. He heard men talking. Leonard was shaking his shoulder. The orphan wasn’t being very gentle.

“Leave me alone,” Patrick said. He slapped Leonard’s hand away.

“If that’s what you want,” Leonard said. “But you’re missing all the fun.”

“What?” Patrick said.

“Jesse James and his gang are robbing the train. They will probably start with the safe. It’s in the Adams Express railcar,” Leonard said. “Then they’ll come here.”

Patrick got out of the bunk. He looked around the sleeper car.

The rich men were acting strangely. One man wore a bowler hat. He was hiding money in one of his socks. Two others were ripping up the carpet at the back of the train.

The two women were crying. They wiped at their tears with linen handkerchiefs.

Only Reverend Hagerty was calm. He was sitting still with his hands folded in his lap. Patrick noticed they were smeared with soot. One hand looked burned and had a red and swollen thumb.

Patrick asked the reverend, “Is it true? Are we being robbed?”

“Something went wrong at the Gad’s Hill stop,” Reverend Hagerty said. “A man was waving a red warning flag. So Mr. Alford went to investigate. Now there are horsemen circling the train.”

“Why didn’t you wake me?” Patrick asked.

“Sleep is a gift from the Lord,” the reverend said. “I didn’t want to rob you of it. You may soon be robbed of everything else.”

The horseman

Patrick turned and reached toward the cloth window shade.

“Don’t touch that,” Leonard said.

Patrick lifted up the fabric just an inch anyway.

He peeked outside. A horseman with a rifle was outside. The man was wearing a white hood and a thick, navy-blue coat. He raised his rifle in the air.

“The next person who looks out will regret it,” the horseman shouted.

Patrick let go of the window shade and slumped in a seat.

Leonard sat next to him. “Told you so,” he said, smirking.

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Beth knew something was wrong at the next train stop. So did Agent Wilson. He looked at his silver pocket watch several times.

“We’ve stopped too long at Gad’s Hill,” Agent Wilson said. “We should be moving on.”

Beth stood on top of the safe. She peeked out through the slatted vents near the ceiling.

“I can see some men on horses,” she said. “But I can’t tell what else is out there.”

Beth heard the sound of the railcar’s door sliding open. It made her heart race.

“Someone’s coming,” Agent Wilson said in a hushed tone.

Beth quietly got off the safe. She pressed her ear to the compartment wall. “I hear lots of footsteps and thuds,” she said. “It sounds like they dropped something.”

“That’s the luggage and the mailbags,” he whispered. “They’re looking for cash and jewelry.”

Agent Wilson stood. He put his shoulder to the safe. He grunted and leaned against the big iron box. The safe moved slowly away from the wall.

“Get behind that,” Agent Wilson said. “The thick metal should stop any bullets.”

Should? Beth hoped he was right.

Agent Wilson held his pistol in his right hand. He pressed himself against the wall close to the door.

Beth waited for the men to crash it open. Instead someone knocked three times. She crouched behind the safe and began to pray. She didn’t want Agent Wilson to get shot.

Beth heard the click of Agent Wilson’s pistol. He was getting ready to fire.

Then a voice said, “Open up, William! These ruffians have a pistol.”

Beth gasped. The speaker was Mr. Alford.

Beth heard the door open. She heard boots walking on the wood floors.

“Put down your pistol,” a deep voice said. There was the sound of something being put on the table.

“Now open the safe,” the voice said. “Or Mr. Alford gets it.”

Beth hiding while a man threatens Mr. Alford.