stage!" exclaimed Jesse, who was deceivedby Bismarck's voice, as he knew absolutely nothing about the existenceof the bird.
"But you counted only four in the crew," said Jim Cummins.
"I know it. They may have picked up others though."
"That's so."
"Give them a shot."
There were five men with Jesse.
All had retreated from the stage.
They now opened fire upon it.
Bang--bang!
Crack--crack!
Bang--bang--bang!
No shots were returned.
This amazed them.
But they heard Bismarck yell:
"Go it, you chumps--go it."
"Whoever that is howling," growled Jesse, "has got a nerve! I suppose hewon't do anything until we get around the stage. Then he'll try to blowus up."
"Don't go near the blamed thing then," said Wood Hite.
"There's nothing in it for us, but I'd like to blow the infernal thingto pieces, so it can't do us any more damage."
"Oh, we can do that as soon as we get more dynamite."
"That's so. The party who is inside will hang around here in hopes ofrescuing their pals, and we'll get a chance later."
None of them dared go too near the stage.
Nor was it of any use to fire at the Terror.
Bullets made no impression upon it.
Jesse understood this very well.
He, therefore, retreated to the interior of the hut with his men.
Jack kept his eyes and ears wide open, and soon saw the gang follow amotion of Jesse, and group themselves in one corner of the hut, and holda whispered, conversation.
The inventor did not hear a word they uttered.
But he saw by their actions that they were scheming some mischiefagainst them, and the result was soon manifested.
Jesse left the crowd and approached the prisoners.
"We've settled your fate!" he announced abruptly.
"Indeed," replied Jack. "What new villainy is brewing?"
"That you will find out in a few minutes. You wounded me and I know youare authorized to hunt me down, break up the gang and put us in jail.Consequently I am going to have revenge. In quarter of an hour you willbe dead and buried."
"I doubt it," quietly answered Jack. "And as for your debt of vengeance,let me recall to your mind that it was you who aroused the enmitybetween us. You began it by robbing or rather swindling the WrightstownBank out of $5,000."
"Oh, yes," grinned the bandit, pulling a big roll of bills out of hispocket. "This is the money only a couple of hundred of it gone. That wasquite a clever game."
"It did not hit me as hard as it might," said Jack. "The bank loses themoney of course, but as I am the president of it, and a largestockholder, fully half the amount comes out of my pocket. I'll get thatmoney away from you now."
"Now?"
"Yes."
"How?"
"This way."
And up jumped Jack.
He had got Fritz to loosen his bonds with his teeth.
Once free from the wrist lashings, he liberated his ankles.
The bandit recoiled with a startled yell, and the rest arose.
Jack sprung forward, snatched the roll of bills from Jesse's hand,shoved it in his pocket and seized the outlaw.
The young inventor was a veritable Hercules in strength.
As the gang made a rush for him, he suddenly lifted Jesse James up inthe air and hurled him at the crowd.
The bandit's body struck Bob Ford and Cole Younger, knocked them backagainst the crowd, and ere they all recovered from their astonishment,Jack sprang out the door and rushed to the stage.
Several pistol shots were fired after him, but as the outlaws wereexcited, they aimed poorly and missed their mark.
Reaching the Terror, Jack jumped aboard, and she sped away.
As soon as the outlaws recovered, and saw him escaping, Jesse yelled:
"Grab the rest, and hustle them out before they escape too!"
The gang pounced on Tim, Fritz and Timberlake.
Carrying them out of the hut by a back door, they passed through thewoods until they came to a glen.
In the middle of it was a small, shallow lake, covering a bed ofquicksand, and they paused upon the shore.
"Throw them in!" ordered Jesse.
His men complied.
As the prisoners were bound, they could not help themselves.
One after another they were tossed into the treacherous lake.
No sooner were their bodies upon the sand when they began to slowly sinkinto it.
The bandits gathered along the shore to watch their unlucky victimsperish in the quicksand bed.
CHAPTER XV.RESCUED FROM DEATH.
Having gained his freedom, Jack had raced away with the Terror in orderto keep out of danger until he was prepared to defend himself.
He did not stop the stage until she was at a considerable distance fromthe rendezvous of the bandits.
Then he critically examined her.
She proved to be in first-class order.
Jack then went inside and put on a suit of armor.
Thrusting two pistols in his belt, he procured a small basket, andopening a box, he withdrew from it a dozen steel balls to each of whicha small metal handle was attached.
These he put very carefully into the basket.
They were hand grenades.
Loaded with the same terrible explosive compound that he put in thebullets he used, they possessed ten times the power that ordinarydynamite shells have.
Armed with these awful missiles, he was ready to go back andsingle-handed engage in a fight with the whole gang.
Jack's courage and perseverance were of a high order.
He deposited the basket in a metal, bullet-proof box on the frontplatform, and seating himself, seized the wheel.
"I've got explosives enough here to blow the whole crew to fragments,"he muttered. "And what is more, I'll do it too, in order to wrest myfriends from their clutches!"
Back along the road rolled the Terror.
The moon now rose in the sky.
In a few minutes Jack neared the hut.
Stopping the electric stage within fifty yards of it, he picked up oneor the bombs and shouted:
"Jesse James, come out here, or I'll blow that hut up!"
Receiving no reply, Jack hurled the grenade.
It struck an end of the hut.
A horrible glare of light flashed out.
It was followed by a report like thunder.
Half of the hut was blown to fragments, and the ground shook.
Jack saw at a glance that the hut was deserted.
He heard the distant voices of men among the trees, and realizing thatthe bandits had gone into the woods, he drove the stage along a roadthat wound among the trees.
In a few moments he neared the quicksand lake.
The bandits saw him coming, and aiming their rifles at the gallant younginventor they fired at him.
A storm of bullets struck Jack.
They did not pierce his armor, however.
He stooped over and picked up one of the grenades.
As soon as he arrived close enough to the outlaws, he hurled the bomb atthem, and it landed in their midst.
The explosion was fearful.
Three of the villains were blown to pieces, several were knocked down,the rest were half deafened, and an uproar of hoarse yells of painescaped those who were struck by the flying particles of metal from theexploded shell.
Seeing the Terror coming on toward them rapidily, the bandits whosurvived rushed away into the woods.
They were filled with horror and alarm.
Such weapons as Jack Wright wielded were beyond their powers ofendurance, and they set him down for a fiend.
Once protected by the trees, they shot back at him.
Bang!
Crack!
Boom!
Whiz! came the shots.
Jack picked up another bomb, and let it fly.
It landed among the trees, and bursting there, spilt and tore them topieces, and sent the outlaws flying again.
At this moment Jack was startled by a wild yell of:
"Help! Save me!"
He looked around to see where the sound came from, and beheld his threefriends buried to their necks in the quicksand.
"Good heavens!" he gasped, as he realized what the outlaws had beendoing to them.
"They've tried to murder the boys."
He saw that they were in a bed of quicksand.
Assured that he would not have any immediate trouble from the outlaws,Jack went into the stage and got a hatchet.
He then alighted.
His friends were twenty feet from the bank.
They laid pretty close together, but were out of his reach.
Rushing in among the shrubbery. Jack rapidly cut down a number of cedartrees, and swiftly carried them to the quicksand.
With these he built a rude bridge out to his friends.
Even the trees began to sink in the sand as he walked out on them, buthe