ion with old Nick himself. Passing the door of his saloon
one day, Bob saw one of Jack's customers trying to play pool with a
Winchester in one hand and an open knife between his teeth, and the boy
stepped in and halted. The man had no weapon concealed and was making no
disturbance, and Bob did not know whether or not he had the legal right
to arrest him, so he turned, and, while he was standing in the door,
Jack winked at his customer, who, with a grin, put the back of his
knife-blade between Bob's shoulders and, pushing, closed it. The boy
looked over his shoulder without moving a muscle, but the Hon. Samuel
Budd, who came in at that moment, pinioned the fellow's arms from behind
and Bob took his weapon away.

"Hell," said the mountaineer, "I didn't aim to hurt the little feller. I
jes' wanted to see if I could skeer him."

"Well, brother, 'tis scarce a merry jest," quoth the Hon. Sam, and he
looked sharply at Jack through his big spectacles as the two led the man
off to the calaboose: for he suspected that the saloon-keeper was at the
bottom of the trick. Jack's time came only the next day. He had regarded
it as the limit of indignity when an ordinance was up that nobody should
blow a whistle except a member of the Guard, and it was great fun for
him to have some drunken customer blow a whistle and then stand in his
door and laugh at the policemen running in from all directions. That day
Jack tried the whistle himself and Hale ran down.

"Who did that?" he asked. Jack felt bold that morning.

"I blowed it."

Hale thought for a moment. The ordinance against blowing a whistle
had not yet been passed, but he made up his mind that, under the
circumstances, Jack's blowing was a breach of the peace, since the Guard
had adopted that signal. So he said:

"You mustn't do that again."

Jack had doubtless been going through precisely the same mental process,
and, on the nice legal point involved, he seemed to differ.

"I'll blow it when I damn please," he said.

"Blow it again and I'll arrest you," said Hale.

Jack blew. He had his right shoulder against the corner of his door at
the time, and, when he raised the whistle to his lips, Hale drew and
covered him before he could make another move. Woods backed slowly
into his saloon to get behind his counter. Hale saw his purpose, and he
closed in, taking great risk, as he always did, to avoid bloodshed,
and there was a struggle. Jack managed to get his pistol out; but H