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up. “But what on earth came over you, to confront that man like that?”
    Tiffany wanted to say it had been a good plan since she knew what Thomas was going to do, but of course that would be a lie. So all she said was “I was protecting our protection.”
    “You could have been shot instead!”
    Tiffany was distracted for a moment by the sight of several of the male passengers and train attendants removing the dead bodies of the four outlaws from the car. She couldn’t help shivering and then turned back to Anna.
    “Didn’t you hear what that outlaw said? He was going to cart me off with the rest of the valuables as if I were a bauble! I was desperate to prevent that from happening. So I panicked. And since it worked out rather well, stop fussing about it.”
    Anna sighed at that point, confessing, “I was so scared. I’ve had my purse snatched before. I’ve been pickpocketed twice. My father’s house was robbed while we were sleeping in it! So it’s not as if I haven’t experienced my fair share of robberies. I’ve just never had a gun pointed at me before.”
    Tiffany knew exactly what Anna meant. There was a lot of crime in New York City, but Tiffany had always been sheltered from it. This was the first time she’d come face-to-face with a robber holding a gun. They’d been in serious danger. She refused to think about what could have happened if the marshal and those other brave passengers had lost the gunfight.
    But the makeshift posse ended up winning the day with the help of the railroad employees, who were used to dealing with train robbers and traveled armed. The passengers in Tiffany’s car cheered when the train started moving again. Some of them were laughing and some of them were jeering as they crowded around the windows on the side of the car that afforded a view of two robbers who had just jumped off the moving train and were racing to catch up with the wagon full of stolen trunks and valises that was speeding away.
    Tiffany kept looking at the back door expecting Marshal Gibbons to return. The passengers quieted down when one of the train attendants announced that several of the passengers who had fought back were injured. Tiffany’s heart sank when she learned that Marshal Gibbons was one of them.

Chapter Five

    T HE MARSHAL DIDN ’ T REGAIN consciousness before the train reached the next town. Tiffany was beside herself with worry because one of the train attendants who was attempting to treat the wounded passengers told her the marshal might not make it. She didn’t know him well, he’d barely spoken with her, but he’d guarded her life admirably today. She would feel horrible if he didn’t recover. His critical condition made the loss of all but one of her trunks in that robbery seem inconsequential.
    With the help of the stronger male passengers, the three wounded men were carried straight to the local doctor. The marshal’s wound was the most serious, so he was treated first. Tiffany and Anna waited anxiously to hear the doctor’s verdict. They paced up and down the entrance hall of the doctor’s home office for almost half an hour before the doctor approached them and said, “He’s starting to come to, so you can see Mr. Gibbons now, but only for a few minutes. I’m sorry if this isn’t your final destination because Mr. Gibbons isn’t goinganywhere for a while. I’m confident he’ll recover, but he won’t be on his feet anytime soon.”
    “Are we going to stay and wait for him?” Anna asked after the doctor walked back into the ward.
    “We can’t when we don’t know how long that will be,” Tiffany replied. “But we’ll be fine. This is the last stop in the Dakota Territory. We’ll be in Nashart tomorrow. I’ll visit with the marshal while you go find out how much time we have before the train pulls out.”
    Anna didn’t budge and gave her a pointed look. “Are you sure you want to go on alone?”
    Tiffany tsked. “What are the odds of another train