The darkness deepened, kept at bay only because of the flickering lamps at each end of the coach. Since Longarm was seated near the middle of the coach, he couldn’t see his hand in front of his face. Suddenly, the lamp up at the front of the coach went out. Longarm thought nothing of it until the lantern at the back of the coach suddenly went out too. Even this did not cause much of a stir among the passengers because the coach was drafty and it seemed likely that both lamps had accidentally expired. But when Longarm heard a woman scream and then heard shouts punctuated by a shotgun’s blast, he knew that he was in the middle of a train robbery.
Longarm wore a .44-caliber Colt inconspicuously strapped under his brown tweed suit coat, butt turned forward. His hand reached for the weapon and it came up smooth and quick. But the coach was as dark as a tomb and there was nothing he could do but sit still and wait for a target.
The tunnel seemed a hundred miles long as the minutes ticked slowly past. Then Longarm heard a man shout, “This is a holdup! We have shotguns and know how to use them! Everyone remove their weapons and throw them into the aisle! Don’t throw ‘em so hard that they hit the folks seated on the other side of the aisle! Just throw ‘em easy and nobody will get hurt!”
Longarm tossed his Colt into the aisle. He had no intention of starting a gun battle among these passengers. But he quickly removed the twin-barrel .44-caliber derringer cleverly attached to his Ingersoll watch and chain. Slipping the derringer in between his seat and the wall of the coach, he leaned back and waited to see what would happen next.
“Okay, folks, we’re almost through this tunnel and we’d better see everyone’s gun resting in the aisle. If we find you’re still armed, we’ll kill you.”
As soon as the man finished speaking, their coach burst into the high mountain sunshine.
“Everyone raise your hands over your heads! We’re coming down the aisles and every one of you are going to give us all your money and jewelry.”
Longarm ground his teeth in frustration because now he could see that the robber up at the head of the coach was wearing a mask and pressing a shotgun to a young woman’s head. Meanwhile, a second masked man was starting down the aisle with a big pillowcase clutched in his fist. From what Longarm could tell, there was another outlaw and hostage holder in the rear of the coach doing the very same thing. Maybe all the coaches were being robbed, but Longarm had his doubts. Except for himself, everyone in this coach was well-to-do, with fat wallets and plenty of high-dollar jewelry. Given his lowly marshal’s pay, Longarm could never have afforded to ride in this luxurious coach if Stella had not sent him a first-class ticket.
“My dear Marshal Custis Long, indulge yourself,” her note had said when it arrived with the tickets. “And be prepared for anything when you arrive in Auburn.”
Well, Longarm thought, the question now is if I’ll even make it to Auburn.
This was Longarm’s reasoning as the masked bag men began to work their way toward the center of the coach. They waved their guns, threatening and scaring the passengers, who were handing over all their rings, necklaces, and other jewelry. No doubt some had had the presence of mind to hide a few jewels or the money from their wallets, but most looked too scared. The robbers were very professional, and because they were all masked, Longarm wouldn’t be able to identify them later. All he could say was that they acted like they’d practiced this drill a good many times.
When he reached Longarm, the man with the bag said, “All right, mister, your watch and money. Nice and easy and don’t try to be a hero.”
Longarm reached inside his coat for his wallet. He had about a hundred dollars in cash and damned if he could spare giving it up, but there wasn’t any choice.
“And now your pocket watch.”
“I don’t wear one,” Longarm said, trying to look scared out of his mind.
“The watch and chain in my bag now, or your brains spattered on the window. Which will it be?”
Longarm removed his watch and gold chain, then tossed them into the bag.
“Good damned choice,” the outlaw said with a chuckle as he continued on down the aisle.
Every first-class passenger was fleeced in less than ten minutes. Longarm didn’t dare crane his neck around, but he’d have been willing to bet that this robbery had netted these men more than ten thousand in cash and jewelry. Maybe a lot more. No telling if the other coaches or the mail car was also being looted.
“All right, folks,” the outlaw called as he and his friends backed to the exits. “It’s been a pleasure and we hope to see you again under happier circumstances. Don’t try to come after us. We’re taking hostages, but we’ll let them go after we’re sure we aren’t being hounded.”
The train slowly ground to a halt. Longarm watched through a window as at least five outlaws sprinted for waiting horses. Minutes later, the gang disappeared into the pine forest.
The instant they were gone, Banker Haley charged up the aisle to Longarm’s side, face livid as he stood over him. “What kind of a lawman are you anyway! You didn’t do a damn thing to stop them! I lost two thousand dollars and a solid gold watch my father left me! I-“
Longarm came out of his seat and grabbed the shouting banker. With a hard twist, he slammed the man down into the seat he’d just left. “One more word and I’ll break your jaw in so many places that you won’t even be able to spit!”
The banker paled, and then jumped up and hurried away. Meanwhile, Longarm had turned and raced down the aisle, but he knew that the High Sierra train robbers and their hostages were already long gone.
Chapter 2
When the train finally rolled into Auburn, there was a great deal of consternation and confusion. By then, everyone knew that Longarm was a United States deputy marshal working out of Denver. What they didn’t know was that he was on a very well-deserved vacation and had no intention of interfering with the local authorities. Sure, he was plenty angry about the robbery and losing his gold watch and chain as well as his six-gun, but dammit, he was on vacation and he was here to attend Stella’s wedding.
“Marshal, I don’t understand you at all!” an elderly man shouted as they were exiting the train. “First you let them bastards rob us blind, and now you say that you’re not even going to lift a hand to catch them sonsabitches!”
“Listen,” Longarm said, grabbing the old geezer’s arm. “If I’d tried to stop those men, there would have been a blood-bath. A lot of innocent people would have been killed and wounded. And as for going after them, I haven’t a horse or a gun or the authority. I’m sure the local marshal will form a posse to track those robbers down quickly.”
“Well, what about the two young ladies that they kidnapped?”
Longarm wore a handlebar mustache, and sometimes it actually twitched when he became upset. Like now. “I feel very bad for those women, but the bank robbers did promise to release them unharmed.”
“And what if they didn’t!”
“If they didn’t,” Longarm growled, “then I’d cancel my vacation and join the manhunt. It’s one thing to rob people, another thing to do them harm.”
“It’s damned obvious to me that you didn’t see those two ladies, did you.”
“No,” Longarm admitted, “I did not. I understand they were taken hostage out of the second-class coach.”
“They were pretty,” the old man told him. “A couple of young nurses on their way to visit friends in San Francisco. One was Miss Sally Benson; the other was her best friend, Miss Debra Potter.”