Chapter Twenty-five
It had been a little over two hours since they left Grand Central Depot, and though it was dark outside, the interior of the Emma Marie was brightly illuminated, not only by the sconce lamps on the walls, but by the electric chandelier suspended from an oak-paneled ceiling to light the seating area.
“This is the most glamorous trip I have ever taken.” Meagan was sitting on one end of the sofa with her legs drawn up under her.
Duff was sitting on the other end of the same sofa and Elmer and Poindexter were sitting in chairs, facing them.
Pete had just uncorked a bottle of wine, and he held it out for their inspection. “Penfolds Magill Estate Shiraz Adelaide Hills, 1850,” he said. “It’s an Australian wine that I discovered while I was still at sea, and I’ve come to appreciate it.” He poured some of it into a glass, swirled it around to test its nose, then took a swallow. “Ah, yes. Excellent. I’m sure you will enjoy it.”
He poured for Meagan first, and the red wine in her glass caught a beam of light from the nearby sconce lamp then sent out a flash of fire.
When all were served, he raised his glass. “To a successful resolution of the difficulties in Chugwater.”
Duff thought to add and to the rescue of Jake, but Poindexter was already convinced that Jake was still alive, and Duff decided that was best.
“Did you and Elmer ever serve together on any ship, other than the Appalachia?” Meagan asked.
“No, ma’am, but were together on that ship for four months, then an additional three months on Howland Island,” Pete replied.
“’N we were a crew, even if we were on an island,” Elmer added. “Oh, ’n Cap’n, here’s somethin’ you may not know. Duff has also been a sailor.”
“Aye, but not like you two. ’Twas only one voyage I made. I stowed away on a ship in Scotland, ’n when I offered to pay my passage, the ship’s captain said I should work my way across. So, my sailing days are for one crossing only.”
“That wouldn’t have been the Hiawatha, would it?” Pete asked.
“Aye, the Hiawatha it was,” Duff said, surprised by the comment. “’N would you be for tellin’ me how it is that you know such a thing?”
“Captain Powell told me the story of a Scotsman who sneaked aboard his ship at the Firth of Clyde. Would that be you?”
“Aye, for that was the captain, ’n that was where I boarded ship.”
“Gabe Powell said that he was prepared for you to be a dullard, but that you turned out to be the best sailor on the voyage.”
“’Twas kind of the captain to say such a thing. I did as well as I could, but I would nae be for saying that I was the best.”
“I own the Hiawatha now,” Pete said. “And Gabe Powell is commodore of the P R and M’s entire fleet.”
“I wish I had known he was in New York, ’twould have been good to see him again.”
“Oh,” Meagan said. “We’re slowing down.” She looked through the window, but because it was dark outside and brightly lit inside, she saw nothing but their reflections.
“We’ll be coming to a stop in a moment. We’re halfway between White Horse Station and Lebanon, and here we’ll take on water,” Pete explained.
“You know where we are even though it’s dark outside and you can’t see?” Meagan asked.
“It isn’t necessary to see, my dear. It’s a matter of time and distance,” Pete said.
Elmer chuckled. “I told you, the cap’n is a jimdandy of a navigator.”
* * *
Three cars ahead, Dixon was also looking through the window. The closeness and the ambient light enabled him to see the water tower. “This is where we get off,” he said as soon as the train stopped.
He, Kluge, O’Malley, and Quinn stepped out onto the platform between the cars and jumped down. Though none of the men were wearing holsters, all four pulled out pistols as they moved quickly through the darkness, back to where Poindexter’s brightly lit private car sat attached to the rear of the train.
“You sure that car’s goin’ to be left when the train pulls out?” Kluge asked. “’Cause if it ain’t there, we’re goin’ to look pretty foolish bein’ left behind with the car ’n the whole train gone.”
“There he is,” Dixon said, pointing to a shadowy figure between the front of the private car and the back of the train.
The man leaned over the couplings for a moment, then he hurried up alongside the train and climbed back on board.
“All right, boys, it looks to me like it’s been done. All we have to do is get ready.”
“Wait a minute,” Quinn said. “If it’s all disconnected like you say it is, how come all the lights is still on?”
“He left the electric connections so nobody in the car would suspect nothin’ till the train pulls away.”
“But don’t that mean the car’s still connected?” O’Malley asked.
“You think them little electric wires can pull that heavy car?” Dixon asked.
“Oh, no, I reckon not.”
The engineer blew two short blasts of the whistle.
“Get ready, the train’s about to leave,” Dixon ordered, and he and the other three cocked their pistols.
* * *
“It would appear that we’re about to get underway again,” Pete said, but no sooner were the words out of his mouth than the car went black.
“What happened?” Meagan asked.
“There must have been a loose connection in the electric wires,” Elmer said. “The train hasn’t left yet. If we can stop it before it leaves, we can reconnect it. I’ll go ahead and get the conductor to—”
“Elmer, there is something queer about this,” Duff said. “The train has gone on and we’re—”
Suddenly they heard the sound of gunfire from outside and several bullets crashed through the windows.
“Get down!” Duff shouted, grabbing Meagan and pulling her down.
“Is anyone hit?” Elmer asked.
“I wasn’t hit,” Pete said.
Duff and Meagan also reported that they were unharmed.
After it was determined that nobody had been hit, Pete suggested they would be safer in one of the bedrooms on the opposite side of the car from where the shooting had come from.
“The bullets would have three walls to come through,” he pointed out.
“Aye, ’tis a good idea. Meagan, you ’n Pete get in there, but crawl.”
Even as Duff was sending Meagan and Pete to safety, more bullets came crashing through the windows.
“Where will you be?” Meaghan asked.
“Me ’n Duff’s are goin’ to go outside ’n kill them rats that’s tryin’ to kill us,” Elmer said.
“Are you ready?” Duff asked, his gun in hand.
“Yeah, I’m ready. Let’s go get’em.”
Reaching the back of the car, first Duff, then Elmer, got down on their stomachs and slithered through the door and across the rear deck. While still on their stomachs, they rolled off the deck and onto the track berm, where Duff waited for Elmer.
When Elmer raised his pistol to fire back at the flame patterns, Duff reached out to stop him. “Nae, we should be for drawing the shooting away from the car.”
“Yeah, I shoulda thought o’ that,” Elmer agreed.
“Elmer, you go about twenty yards that way,” Duff said, pointing toward the front of the car. “I’ll go to the back. Here, take this.”
Duff gave Elmer his pistol.
“Why are you a-givin’ me your gun?”
“I want you to hold your hands out like this,” Duff said, spreading his arms wide. “Shoot both of the guns so that they’ll think we are together over there. That way I’ll be able to sneak up on them.”
“’N just what is it you’re a-plannin’ on doin’ when you get there, seein’ as you won’t have a gun with you?”
“I have this,” Duff said, holding up the sgian dubh, the ceremonial knife that, when he was wearing the uniform of a Captain of the Black Watch, was kept tucked into the right kilt stocking.
“I’ve seen you use that thing before, so I ain’t goin’ to try’n stop you,” Elmer said.
The gunfire continued from the other side of the track, and Duff could hear the bullets hitting the side of the car. He prayed that Poindexter was right—that the three walls would stop the bullets.
He started to the left, while Elmer went right. Both had the advantage of darkness, as well as the elevated railroad berm to conceal their movements. Shortly after Duff got into position, he heard Elmer begin firing and, as Duff had instructed, he saw that Elmer was holding the pistols widely separated.
“Damn!” a voice said. “They’s two of ’em that’s got outta the car.”
“It has to be MacCallister’n Gleason,” another voice said. “If we can take care o’ them, the woman ’n Poindexter will be easy.”
The attackers began shooting toward where they had seen Elmer shoot, and Duff was able to figure out that there were four of them,
He crossed the tracks, his movement unnoticed by any of the four trading gunfire with Elmer. Duff moved quickly through a drainage ditch adjacent to the track until he reached the first man.
Concentrating so intently on Elmer, the shooter neither heard nor saw Duff until Duff was on him.
“What the hell?” the shooter said, startled by Duff’s unexpected appearance.
Duff held out his hand. “I’ll be takin’ your gun.”
The shooter raised his gun but before he could pull the trigger, Duff made a sweep with his knife, opening up the man’s stomach. As he went down, Duff grabbed his gun.
“Quinn, what the hell’s goin’ on over there? Who are you talkin’ to?” asked the next man over.
“That would be me,” Duff replied from about ten feet away from the man who had called out to Quinn. Too far to use his knife, but Duff had Quinn’s pistol, and he fired just before his would-be assailant did. His assailant went down.
“Dixon, they got O’Malley and Quinn!”
“Kluge, you dumb peckerwood! Why did you call out my name?”
Dixon fired, but not at Duff. He shot Kluge in the back, then he turned and ran off into the dark.
“Duff?” Elmer called. “Duff, are you all right?”
“Aye, all is finished here.”
Pete found a kerosene lantern which he lit, not only to provide illumination for them, but also to mark the car in the hope that an approaching train would see them before colliding with them.
“I heard Dixon’s name called,” Duff said.
“Clete Dixon is one of the railroad police with the C and FL,” Meagan said.
“Railroad police? I don’t have any railroad police,” Pete said.
“You don’t, but whoever is passing himself off as your son does,” Meagan said.
“What I don’t understand is how the imposter knows so much of the operation,” Pete said. “And how was he able to convince Mr. Jamison to send so much money without arousing any suspicion? And why didn’t Jamison share those requests with me?”
“Have you considered that it might nae be suspicious to Mr. Jamison?” Duff asked.
“What in heaven’s name do you mean? Surely you don’t suspect that Norman Jamison is involved in this, do you? Why he has been a loyal and valued employee for some years now.”
“As I am nae familiar with the gentlemen, I can nae make such a judgment. ’Tis only a question I ask.”
“Something is coming up the track!” Meagan said in alarm and the others looked in the direction she pointed. Some distance away they saw not one huge light as would be on the train but two lights, much lower and dimmer.
“That ain’t no train,” Elmer said.
“It’s a handcar,” Pete said in relief. “It’s track checkers, inspecting the rails. And, they will have a telegraph key. They can send word back that we’re stranded out here. Miss Parker, Mr. MacCallister, Bosun, we’ll be reconnected and back on our way before you can say Jack Robinson.”