Argosy, Vol. 1 (1882) — page 351: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

342 spelled out the warning on the bare copper wires, repeating it to make sure it was received. Then came the “O. K.,” and he knew the express was saved. But Dorothy Orloff had done more than save the lives of those on the ex- press that night; she had unearthed a vile plot, discovered the real robber of the express company’s safe at the sta- tion, and prevented forty thousand dol- lars of treasure, being carried by the express train, from falling into the hands of a band of savage and unscru- pulous train wreckers. To. account for Dorothy having found Dykeman alive, and compara- tivly uninjured, in the baggage room, it is only necessary to return briefly to the moment when the masked robber was about to pull the trigger of his re- volver a second time, to carry out his intention of killing the bound and in- sensible agent. “ Are you crazy, Pete?” cried one of his companions, grasping his arm and turning the pistol to one side. “‘ It'll go hard enough with us any way if we're caught. What’s the use of killing that man? There'll be enough of ’em sent to kingdom come this night without him.” ‘“T tell you he blocked our game at the Rock Cut,” returned the other flercely, “and he'll do it again. What difference does another one make? It’s a hanging business, any way?” ‘“ Hanging or no hanging, there’s no use init. He couldn’t help what he did at the cut, and there’s no danger of him taking a hand here before the job is done.” The speaker was evidently a man of some authority, or had considerable in- fluence over his companion, for Pete growled : “ What’ll we do with him then? ” “ Put him in the baggage room as he is, and as we intended to do, and he might as well be dead for all he could do there.” Dykeman’s limp and senseless form THE ARGOSY. was lifted from the chair and carried into the baggage department of the sta- tion. He was laid on the floor and the door closed upon him. When the agent came to his senses the full horror of the situation he had been in, and the discovery he had made, came back to him, and he wondered where he was. Then his straining ears detected the faint ticking of the relays in his office, and he knew he must be in the baggage room. The time from that period until he was startled and amazed by the ap- pearance of Dorothy, was_ spent in speculating as to the object of the masked men, and_ dwelling upon the fact that he had again met the outlaw who had been addressed as Or- loff, and had again been in peril of his life at the man’s hands. He could not account for his second escape from death. He could only con- clude that they were after the money in Forsdyke’s safe; and as for the out- law named Orloff, he was as far as ever from being able to decide if the man was his father or not. The old depression of mind and spir- its, which had been occasioned by the possibility of the outlaw being his fa- ther, but which had been thrown off to some extent since the attempted train robbery, returned with renewed force. As soon as he was assured that the express train would be stopped at the’ station below South Bridge, Dash re- turned to the baggage room, and bore the unconscious form of the brave young girl into the office. Pulling off his own coat, and using several others that hung in one corner, he quickly arranged a rude couch on the floor, and placed Dorothy upon it. Then, with ice water from the water cooler, and a saturated handkerchief, he devoted himself to restoring her to consciousness. The young girl was a long time in “coming around,” but at last he was relieved and happy to see her open her eyes. GOH GOOO CO