"Hi! Hi!" cried Phil, turning and gesticulating wildly at the men further up the train "I've got him! Hurry! I--"Something sang by his head and dropped quivering in the canvas beyond him.It was the discharged tentman's knife which he had aimed at Phil, his aim having been destroyed by a lurch of the car, thus saving the Circus Boy's life.
"Want to kill me, do you? I've got you now! The men are coming.Don't you dare move or I'll drop this stake on you.I can't miss you this time."Red after one hesitating glance, faced the front and leaped from the train down the long, sloping cinder-covered bank.
Phil let drive his tent stake.It caught Red on the shoulder, bowling the rascal over like a nine pin.
Phil Forrest uttered a yell of exultation, suddenly dropping to the floor of the car at the imminent risk of his life.
The men were now piling over the cars in his direction.He did not know whether they had seen Red jump or not.Phil did not waste any time in idle speculation.
"Come on!" he shouted, springing to the edge of the car, keeping himself from falling by grasping a wheel of the wagon.
Then Phil Forrest did a daring thing.Crouching low, choosing his time unerringly, he jumped from the train.Fortunately for him, the cars were running slowly up the heavy grade.But, slowly as they were going, the lad turned several rapid handsprings after having struck the ground, coming to a stop halfway down the slope, somewhat dazed from the shock and sudden whirling about.
But he was on his feet in a twinkling, and running toward the spot where Red was painfully picking himself up.Phil slipped and stumbled as the cinders gave way beneath his feet but ran on with a grim determination not to let his man escape him this time.
Both were now weaponless, so far as the lad knew.Red had possessed a revolver, but in his sudden jump from the train he had lost it, and there was now no time to look for it.
When he saw Phil pursuing, Larry started on a run, but the lad, muchmore fleet of foot, rapidly overhauled him, despite the handicap that Phil had at the start.
"You may as well give up! I'm going to catch you, if I have to run all the way across the Sierra Nevada Range," shouted Phil.
Red halted suddenly.Phil thought he was going to wait for him, but the lad did not slacken his speed a bit because of that.
All at once, as Phil drew near, Red picked up a stone and hurled it at his pursuer.Phil saw it coming in time to "duck," and it was well he did so, for Larry's aim was good.
"He must have been a baseball pitcher at sometime," grinned the lad.However, the fellow continued to throw until Phil saw that he must do something to defend himself else he would surely be hit and perhaps put out of the race altogether.
"So that's your game is it?" shouted the boy."I can play ball, too."With that the lad coolly began hunting about for stones, of which he gathered up quite an armful, choosing those that were most nearly round.In the meantime Red had kept up his bombardment, Phil dodging the stones skillfully.Then he too, began to throw, gradually drawing nearer and nearer to his adversary.
A small stone caught Phil a glancing blow on the left shoulder causing him to drop his ammunition.He could scarcely repress a cry, for the blow hurt him terribly.He wondered if his shoulder had not been broken, but fortunately he had received only a severe bruise.
