ing me, his hand holding mine
back from the pen that it would have clutched. During this time the man
Black leant towards me, and watched me, expectancy in his face,
threatening in his pose. Yet he did not speak, and my eyes left the
paper and I gave him look for look, and from his face my glance passed
to his right hand which held the pistol; and in that instant I took
heart for a step which was the last mad design of a driven man.

"Give me the pen!" I said suddenly, rising and bending over the table.

He put the pen into my hands, and leant back with a chuckle of
satisfaction; but the movement cost him the game. I clutched his pistol
with a lightning grasp, and covered him with it--

"If you raise a finger I'll shoot you like a dog," I cried.

Then the man, who was no craven, sat motionless in his chair; and I saw
the beads of terror falling from his forehead, but he betrayed no
emotion, and his face might have been cut from marble. I had the muzzle
of the pistol upon him, and I continued with greater confidence--

"If you raise your voice to call out, or if anyone comes to this room,
you die where you sit."

He heard me then more calmly, and replied deliberately--

"Boy, you are the first that's bested Black."

"I'll take your word for that," I said; "but take care--you are moving
your hand." He held it still at once and continued--

"I'm caught like a rat in the hole. What do ye want? Name it, and I'll
know how we stand!"

"I want my life--my life, now that I refuse to sign that paper."

"Yes," he said, "that's a fair request, though I can't say it's in my
power to make it that way."

"It's in your power to stand with me--you can give the order that no
man's to lay a finger on me, and you will?"

He thought a moment, looking straight down the barrel of the Colt. Then
he said--

"Yes, I can't avoid that--I'll give you that."

"And my liberty on the first occasion offering."

"No," he replied very slowly and sternly; "that's more than the devil
himself could offer you; they'd tear me to pieces."

There was no doubt that he had right in this; and I reflected that I
could gain nothing whatever by holding out. There was just the hope
that he would abide by his word in the matter of my personal safety,
but more I could not look for. The man could only die, and, it he gave
me freedom, his own men would requite him as he said. I thought of this
and put the pistol down; then I offered him my hand, and he