r?
Fascinated, he watched one of the blinds slowly swing outward. He held
his breath.

Suddenly it dawned on him that the visitor was still _expected_, and not
on the point of departing. In that case it behooved him to retire to a
less exposed spot, where he could observe the fellow without being
observed.

Stooping low, he stole across the road and wound his way through the
scraggly hedgerow and into the brambles beyond. Just as he was settling
himself down for his vigil, a most astonishing thing occurred.

A hand fell heavily upon his shoulder, and something cold punched him in
the back of the neck--and remained fixed in that spot.

"Don't move or I'll blow your brains out," whispered a voice in his ear.
The grip on his shoulder tightened.

"Who--who--" he started to gasp.

"Shut up!" hissed the voice of the invisible one. "I've got you dead to
rights. Get up! Put your hands up!"

"I--I got 'em up," gulped Mr. Crow, in a strangled voice. "Don't shoot,
Mister! I--I promise to let you go, I swear I will. It's--"

"By thunder!" fell from the lips of the captor. It was an exclamation of
surprise, even dismay.

"Take it away, if it's a revolver," pleaded Anderson. "I withdraw from
the case. You c'n go as fer as you like. Eliphalet--"

"Stand still. I can't take a chance with you. You may be trying to fool
me with this rube talk. Keep 'em up!"

Swiftly the stranger ran a hand over Mr. Crow's person.

"You _ought_ to have a gun," he said in a puzzled voice.

"I loaned it last winter to Milt Cupples, an' he--"

"Who the devil are you?"

"I'm the marshal of Tinkletown, an' my name is Crow--A. Crow. I made a
mistake, takin' up this case. Go on in and see Mrs. Loop if you feel
like it. I won't say a word to anybody--"

"Get down on your knees, Mr. Crow, here beside me, an'--"

"Oh, Lordy, Lordy! You shorely ain't going to shoot, Mister!"

"I don't want you to pray. I want you to keep still. Don't make a
sound--do you hear?"

"I've got a wife an' children--"

"Shut up! Look! She's put out the light. Keep your eyes skinned, old
man! He must be near. Don't make a sound. My partner's in that
rain-barrel at the corner of the house. If we can get him between us, he
won't have any more chance than a snowball in--Look! There he is,
sneaking across the yard! By golly, we've got him at last."

What happened in the next fifteen seconds was a revelation to the most
recent addition to the forces of the Internationa