man's gun."

De Spain, looking from one to the other of the four faces confronting
him, laughed for the first time. But he was looking without seeing
what he seemed to look at. In reality, he saw only a cut-glass
button. He was face to face with taking a man's life or surrendering
his own, and he knew the life must be taken in such a way as instantly
to disable its possessor. These men had chosen their time and place.
There was nothing for it but to meet them. Sassoon was stepping toward
him, though very doubtfully. De Spain laughed again, dryly this time.
"Go slow, Sassoon," he said. "That gun is loaded."

"If you want terms, hand over your gun to Sassoon," cried Logan.

"Not till it's empty," returned de Spain. "Do you want to try taking
it?" he demanded of Logan, his cheeks burning a little darker.

[Illustration: Hugging his shield, de Spain threw his second shot over
Sandusky's left shoulder.]

Logan never answered the question. It was not meant to be answered.
For de Spain asked it only to cover the spring he made at that instant
into Sandusky's middle. Catlike though it was, the feint did not take
the big fellow unprepared. He had heard once, when or where he could
not tell, but he had never forgotten the hint, that de Spain, a boxer,
was as quick with his feet as with his hands. The outlaw whirled. Both
men shot from the hip; the reports cracked together. One bullet
grazing the fancy button smashed through the gaudy waistcoat: the
other, as de Spain's free hand struck at the muzzle of the big man's
gun, tore into de Spain's foot. Sandusky, convulsed by the frightful
shock, staggered against de Spain's arm, the latter dancing tight
against him. Logan, alive to the trick but caught behind his partner,
fired over Sandusky's right shoulder at de Spain's head, flattened
sidewise against the gasping outlaw's breast. Hugging his shield, de
Spain threw his second shot over Sandusky's left shoulder into Logan's
face. Logan, sinking to the floor, never moved again. Supporting with
extraordinary strength the unwieldy bulk of the dying butcher, de
Spain managed to steady him as a buffer against Morgan's fire until he
could send a slug over Sandusky's head at the instant the latter
collapsed. Morgan fell against the bar.

Sandusky's weight dragged de Spain down. For an instant the four men
sprawled in a heap. Sassoon, who had not yet got an effective shot
across at his agile enemy, dropping his revolver, dodged under