Bud sat down and waited patiently for Ted, who was thinking deeply.

“I didn’t tell you the precise object of our visit to St. Louis,” began Ted, “not because I didn’t trust your ability to keep a secret, but in order to keep every one else in the dark.”

“D’yer mean ter say that ye hev stalled me along ter this town ter give me a leetle airin’, an’ not ter sell hosses?” asked Bud indignantly.

“Not exactly.  I want to sell the horses for the top price, but there was something else behind it.”

“A large man astraddle o’ ye with a keen an’ bitin’ bowie at yer throat.  Yer must be hard up fer amoosement.”

“Not that, either,” said Ted, laughing.  “I manage to get all the amusement that’s coming to me.”

“I’m still gropin’ fer enlightenment.”

“Here goes, then.  For a couple of months the trains on the Union Pacific, in Nebraska and Wyoming, have been running the gantlet between bands of train robbers.  If a train missed being robbed at one place, it was almost sure to get it at another, especially if it carried wealth of any description.”

“But ther railroads is erbout ther biggest chumps ter stand fer all this monkeydoodle business o’ train robbin’ ez long ez they hev.  Why don’t they get inter ther exterminatin’ business, an’ clean up ther last o’ them?”

“Too busy making money, I guess.  But this time it is not the railroads who are going after them.”

“Who is it, me an’ you?”

“Almost.  By orders of the government.”

“That’s more like it.  I don’t hev no love fer a train robber, fer all I ever come in contact with wuz a bunch o’ cowardly murderers, who fight like rats when they’re cornered, an’ kill innercent express messengers fer amoosement er devilment.  But if Uncle Sammy sez so, an’ needs my help, he’s got it right swift an’ willin’.”

“Well, he seems to need it, for just before we left Moon Valley I received a letter from the United States secret service, telling me about the robberies, of which I had heard something, but not much, as they have been kept away from the newspapers as much as possible.”

“Hev there been so many of them?”

“As I tell you, they have been so numerous as to lead one to believe that there was a chain of train robbers clear across the continent, and strong and capable robbers they have proved themselves to be.”

“Did they git much?”

“They have got away with a vast amount of money belonging to individuals.  They seem to have had information in advance of all the big shipments of treasure leaving San Francisco and Carson City, Nevada, as well as of private shipments.”

“Wise Injuns, eh?”

“I should say so.  They have even been able to spot shipments of United States gold en route from the mints in Frisco and Carson to Washington, and in two instances have got away with it.”

“Wow!  There’s where your Uncle Samuel reaches out his long arms and takes a hand in the game.  How much did they get away with?”