"Let's have 'em out," and while they were being saddled and brought up, Jed picked out four of the men whom he knew to accompany him and his partner in the mounted pursuit of the robbers. One of them crowded through the hole in the window and passed out arms and ammunition. The remainder of the posse was dismissed, and returned slowly toward their homes, not without considerable grumbling that their services had been so lightly regarded. At the end of ten minutes, Jed and his five companions were mounted and away. They were soon back at the station, which was now only a smouldering mass of ruins, so quickly had the flames been able to consume the flimsy frame structure. "Where's that kid?" asked Jed. "I didn't suppose he'd keep us waitin'." "Something's th' matter over there," said one of the men, and pointed to a little group which had gathered at one side of the track. Jed swung off his horse and hastened to investigate. He found that it had gathered about Allan West, who lay unconscious, his pale face looking positively ghastly under the flickering light of the gasoline torch, which hung from the pole above him. "What's th' matter with him?" asked Jed. "He told me he wasn't hurt." "He's hurt in the side," answered the surgeon, who was bending above the boy. "I think there's a couple of ribs broken. He never mentioned the injury when I dressed his other wounds. Is there a hospital at Coalville?" "Hospital?" Jed grunted, derisively. "Well, I should say not!" "Number Nine's due in about ten minutes," said the operator. "You can fix up some sort of bed in the baggage-car and take him back to Wadsworth." "That'll do," agreed the surgeon, and bent again above the boy. Jed stood watching him for a moment, shifting uneasily from one foot to the other. "Think he's very bad, doctor?" he asked, at last. "Oh, no," answered the surgeon. "Just overdone things, I guess, and fainted from the pain. He'll be all right, as soon as I can get him to a place where I can fix him up." Jed heaved a sigh of relief. "That's good," he said. "He's a plucky kid. I'd hate to see him knock under," and he strode away to join his men. In another moment, they were off up the road in the direction taken by the robbers. The latter had a start of over an hour, but that did not worry Jed, because he knew they would soon find themselves on the horns of a dilemma. Either they must take the chest with them, or leave it behind. If they took it, they could not abandon the wagon, and yet they would scarcely dare to use it after daybreak, for it had the name of the mining company painted on its side. On the other hand, they would not abandon the chest until they had opened it and secured the contents, and Jed knew that it would be no easy job to break the chest open. So he rode on at a sharp canter, confident that the fugitives could not escape.