The boiler of the engine suddenly exploded with the roar of a hundred thunderclaps. Huge pieces of heavy metal, set into motion by the explosion, were hurled high into the sky, before tumbling back down to land several feet away, each falling piece of metal adding its own sound to the terrible noise of the wreck.
Finally, the screeching, grinding, banging, crashing sound stopped, to be replaced for a moment by total silence. But the silence was quickly filled with cries of pain, shouts of anguish, and calls for help.
The explosion of the boiler had sent hundreds of burning embers of coal from the engine’s firebox. Those coals had landed on the wooden passenger cars, most nearly reduced to kindling wood by the wreck, so that within seconds, the cars, many of which still had people trapped in the wreckage, caught on fire.
“Son of a bitch!” Schuler said. “That wasn’t supposed to happen! I thought all that would happen was that the train would stop. I didn’t know it was going to wreck.”
“Yeah, well, the train did stop, though, didn’t it?” Odom said. “Jesus, most of the passenger cars are on fire. Come on, let’s get in the express car, get the money, and get out before it catches fire, too.”
“This ain’t right,” Schuler said. “You never said anything about killing all these people. All you said you was goin’ to do was rob a train.”
“Yeah? Well, how the hell was I supposed to get it to stop? Stand in front of it and hold out my hand?”
When the train left the track, Matt felt the sudden drop of the left side of the car. He had no idea what caused it, but he knew at once that it was very bad, and he spun himself around to put his feet on the lower wall to brace himself.
The car rolled violently onto its side. It slid along the ground for several feet while, inside the car, fixtures broke loose and cargo began sliding around. The mail cabinet fell over on the express man, crushing him beneath its terrible weight. Hayes was slammed against the wall so hard that he was knocked out. Only Matt, of the three, escaped injury because he had managed to brace himself against the wall.
“Mr. Kingsley! Mr. Kingsley!” Matt called, but the express man didn’t answer.
“Hayes? Hayes, are you all right?”
Hayes groaned, showing that he was still alive, though, for now, Matt had no idea as to the seriousness of his condition.
From outside, Matt could hear the wails and cries of the injured, and he wondered what had happened and how bad the wreck was. He pulled himself through the strewn wreckage of the car until he reached Hayes.
“Hayes?” he said.
Hayes was out cold, but his steady breathing told Matt that he wasn’t dead.
Matt searched through Hayes’s pockets until he found the key to his shackles. He was just about to unlock them when he heard someone jerking open the door.
He wasn’t sure who was trying to get in to the car, but because he was in shackles, he thought it might not be a good idea to be seen. Holding on to the key, he moved away quickly, then hid behind an overturned cabinet.
He saw four men, with guns drawn, climb into the car. The fact that they were holding guns told him that they weren’t here as rescuers. A closer look at one of the men confirmed that, when he saw that it was the same man he had encountered in the alley back in Wickenburg. This was Cletus Odom.
Odom, this is the second time I’ve met you, and I haven’t liked you either time, Matt thought as he watched the men step inside the overturned car and look around.
“Señor, hemos hecho un desorden grande,” one of them said as he looked around the car.
“What’s that, Paco? I don’t speak Mex,” Odom replied.
“I said, we have made a big mess,” Paco repeated in English.
“What did you expect? When you wreck a train, you make a mess,” Odom replied. “Let’s find the safe. Schuler, get ready to blow it.”
“There are women and children on this train,” Schuler said. “You didn’t tell me that we might be killing women and children.” Schuler was slender, almost gaunt. “This ain’t right. I wouldn’t have come along if I’d known this was going to happen. We ought to do something to help these people.”
“Are you crazy? You want to get hung? That’s what’s going to happen if you start trying to help anyone now. All you got to do is blow the safe so we can get the money and get out of here.”
“Ain’t no need to blow the safe,” one of the others said. This man was the biggest of them all.
“Why not? What are you talkin’ about, Bates?” Odom asked.
“The money is all in a canvas pouch. I found it.” Bates said.
“Is the pouch locked?”
“Nope,” Bates replied. He stuck his hand down inside and pulled out a couple of bound stacks of currency notes. “It’s full of money.”
“Damn, I wonder how much.”
“Twenty thousand dollars,” Bates answered without hesitation.
“What? How do you know that?” Odom asked.
Bates pulled out a piece of paper, then smiled at the others. “’Cause it’s all been counted out for us,” he said.
“Twenty thousand dollars! Caramba, that is a lot of money, I think,” Paco said
“We’re rich, boys! We’re rich,” Bates said happily.
“This ain’t right,” Schuler said, shaking his head. “There ain’t none of this right!”
“Well, if you don’t like it, you don’t have to take your cut,” Odom said. “Come on, boys, let’s go.”
“What—what happened?” Hayes asked, groaning, and trying to sit up.
“Shit, he’s alive!” Bates said.
Drawing his gun, Odom aimed it at Hayes and fired. His bullet hit Hayes in the forehead and Hayes fell back.
“Not no more, he ain’t,” Odom said. “The dumb son of a bitch. All he had to do was be quiet for one more minute and he wouldn’t of got hisself kilt. Come on, let’s get out before somebody looks in here.”
Matt waited until all four men had left the car before he moved from his hiding place. Using the key he had taken from Hayes, he unlocked his shackles. After that, he strapped on Hayes’s pistol, then looked down at him.
“Like the fella said, Hayes. If you had been quiet for one more minute, you’d still be alive.”
Armed and free, Matt climbed out of the car.
Chapter Eight
When Matt jumped down from the express car, he was totally unprepared for the carnage he saw. The next car after the express car was the baggage car, and the passenger car following it was telescoped into it. The next three passenger cars, while not overturned, were jackknifed, piled up onto each other, and burning. Scattered luggage and clothing created a patchwork quilt of bright colors alongside the track.
Everyone who could do so had evacuated the train. Some, who were bleeding and badly injured, had collapsed near the track. Others, not as severely wounded, were wandering around in a state of shock, as if not sure what had happened to them. There were also several bodies lying on the ground around the train, some evidently thrown from the train, others who might have staggered this far before they died.
It was even worse inside the wrecked cars. Matt could hear the cries of pain and fear from those who were still trapped.
Outside, a few of the people had begun to function again, and they started back into the cars to pull out more of the injured.