"I must look worse than a tenderfoot.

Why, I'll be really glad if Dave Fulsbee can ride back with me.

I had no idea he was so near.

I believed him to be at least fifty or sixty miles down the line." Tom was nearing the place appointed when a sudden whistle rang out from the brush beside the track.
Then half a dozen men leaped out into view in the darkness, two of them seizing the bridle of his horse.
"Good evening, Reade!" called the mocking voice of 'Gene Black.
"Down this way to see your first train go through?
Stay with us, and we'll show you how it doesn't get through---not tonight!".