rd, and when I've locked them up
and told Atkinson what to do about keeping the people away from the
building, I'll join you there."

"I understand," Weir stated.

"And we can slip off and grab Vorse if he's in his saloon and then
Sorenson before any one knows what's happening."

"That's right; don't want the game spoiled now. Here we are."

The cars had arrived at the gate before the courthouse. Here, too,
however, the crowd was densest, having gathered at the spot as if the
roar of powder from the camp was an overture to Weir's arrest and
appearance. It had proved a prelude to his appearance, at any rate.
The crowd perceived him with Madden and it believed him a prisoner
even if not handcuffed and marched with a pistol at his head.

A profound silence at first greeted the party as it alighted. Madden,
assisting Burkhardt to alight, pulled the man's broad-brimmed hat low
over his eyes to conceal his face from the revealing moonlight. A
short struggle again ensued, but Burkhardt finally yielded to the
pressure exerted by his companion guards.

A murmur of astonishment ran over the surrounding throng, each instant
being augmented by the voices of others running to the place. Not only
did it appear that the engineer was under arrest, but likewise
others,--a handcuffed, gagged man and two sullen Mexicans, strangers
to the community. Yet a number of the onlookers, possibly men with
Vorse's or Sorenson's money in their pockets, shouted as the
new-comers moved through the press:

"Killer, murderer! Hang him, shoot him!" And more voices began to join
in the cry.

Clearly the intent was to stir up feeling in the crowd to a point
where action against Weir would seem a spontaneous outbreak. Even
women joined in the cry; curses followed; fists were shaken.

"Open up the way," Madden ordered, as a surge of the crowd threatened
to surround him and his party. In his hand, as if to emphasize his
command, a six-shooter swung into view, sweeping to and fro and
menacing the press of people.

The frightened men directly before the party struggled to get out of
line of the weapon, yielding suddenly a clear passage.

"Quick! Around the courthouse and back to the jail," Madden exclaimed
to those with him.

Pushing forward from the moonlight into the shade cast by the
cottonwoods, they dragged their prisoners past the first building
towards the low stout stone structure at the rear, half-illuminated
and half-concealed by the p