MAD MESA by J.R.A

Author:J.R.A. [J.R.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2011-04-26T23:21:28+00:00

SOMEWHAT to the bewilderment of Doc Savage’s five assistants, the men they were following gathered in the shadow of a pile of ties and proceeded to do nothing for some minutes. This was puzzling, and aggravating. Doc’s aids intended to trail the men only until the gang led them to Nona Idle, after which they were going to close in.

Near by, an engine coupled onto a line of freight cars with a crash. It was a short train, no more than twelve cars.

There was more silence. Then the engine whistled a highball, and a peal of thunder ran down the string of a dozen freights as the train began to move.

Jan Hile, Skookum and the others suddenly dashed for the freight and scrambled into an empty box car.

"Holy cow!" Renny thumped. "Come on!"

There seemed to be only one empty box car on the rear portion of the train, and they climbed into that, Monk and Renny, who were most agile, going first, and helping Johnny and Ham, and particularly Long Tom, who was hampered by his skirts.

There was a little hay on the floor of the box car. They crouched down in that, all except Johnny, who prowled around and explored the car with as much interest as he would have devoted to the tomb of a Pharaoh.

"A superimpregnable—"

"Whoa!" requested Long Tom. "Bob the tails off them words."

Johnny sighed and said, "This box car is one of those modern things made out of steel, and there is some baled hay in the other end that we can use for chairs."

Renny rumbled. "Holy cow! He does know little words!"

They dragged hay bales around and made themselves comfortable, except for Monk and Ham. The latter two kept a lookout from the one open door. The other was closed and locked.

"We don’t want them guys droppin’ off without us seein’ ‘em!" Monk said grimly.

The night was dark, the wheels roared and pounded over rail joints, and the engine whistle howled at intervals.

The inactivity began to pall on Renny.

"I think I’ll climb out of this car and have a look around," he said. "There’s a kind of hatch here at one end."

"I’ll go along," offered Monk, who was acrobatic by nature. "We can mosey along the tops of the cars."

The two skinned off their coats, preparatory to beginning their trip.

"What if you meet somebody?" Ham demanded.

"We’ll say we’re brakemen."

"And what if it’s a brakeman you meet?"

"To you," Monk said, "the fruit of the peanut bush."

He leaped and knocked at the underside of the hatch in the roof of the car. "Hey! This thing seems to be locked!"

"We’ll go out of the door, then," Renny advised. "You lift me up, and I’ll grab the roof, then pull you up."

The open box-car door rolled shut as they approached it.

Both men stopped.

"That’s danged funny," Monk muttered.

Ham called, "The motion of the train probably rolled it shut."

Monk tried vainly to open the door, then said, "Well, the motion of the train’ll never roll it open again."

They unconsciously held their breaths.

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