“Half expecting to meet one of the outlaws, I turned, and was glad to see one of the brakemen, who had come to my assistance.

“‘We have repulsed them, but they are following us,’ he said, in reply to my anxious questions.

“‘Well, let them follow,’ I answered, ’if they think they can overtake my Bonny Bess.  Give her more fuel, Ned.  You will have to be my—­’

“I did not finish my sentence, for at that moment, as we shot around a curve, great tongues of fire leaped from the track ahead of us.  It was a bridge in a blaze of flame, and in the light of the burning structure I saw a dozen of Gerardo’s band waiting our coming.

“We were going at lightning-like speed, and we were within twenty rods of the fire when I discovered it, so I had no time to hesitate upon my course of action.  Quick as a flash I realized the trap Gerardo had laid—­our situation.  To stop was to throw ourselves into the hands of his followers, which meant death.  The bridge was still standing.  It might hold us to cross over.  There was at least a chance.  To stop was hopeless.

“All this seemed to come to me at one thought.  I would keep on.  Bonny Bess was doing her prettiest and I gave her a free bit; that is, in our parlance, ‘linked her up.’  My left hand was on the lever and my gaze was fixed on the burning bridge, which hung, a network of fire, over the glowing river, thirty feet below.

“I heard the shouts of the amazed outlaws above the roar of the train, and then I felt the bridge quiver and tremble beneath me, as we were borne over its swaying spans, amid a cloud of ashes, smoke and cinders, which fairly blinded me.

“The blazing girders overhead sent out their forked tongues of fire, and from the timbers below leaped up the sheets of flame until we were enveloped in the fiery shroud.  Blinded, stifled for a moment, I then felt the cool night air fan my face, and the engine no longer shook as if upon uncertain footing.

“We had passed the bridge in safety, and I drew a breath of relief.  Then another curve in the track brought us into full view of the burning structure, and feeling we were now safe from pursuit, I checked the engine’s speed, so we could watch the fire.

“We hadn’t watched long before a cloud of sparks flew into the darkness, and one span of the doomed bridge fell into the water.  The other must soon follow.

“I felt a dizziness creeping over me then, and the next I knew I was lying on the ground, with an anxious circle of men and women bending over me.  You see my arm had been bleeding all of the time, and the loss of blood, with the strain of the awful ordeal, had been too much for me.

“But my arm had been bandaged, and I was soon able to resume my old post, which I did, running the train to Los Angeles without further adventure.

“Strange enough, Gerardo and his followers were not seen after that night.  But I had got tired of that country, and I soon after came up this way.  I have never regretted it, either.