e was deceitful as well as cruel, and those who
knew him best felt sure that his acting under Buck Tom was a mere ruse.
There is little doubt that he had done so for the purpose of obtaining
an influence over a gang of desperadoes, ready to hand, as it were, and
that the moment he saw his opportunity he would kill Buck Tom and take
command. The only thing that had kept him from doing so sooner, it was
thought, was the fact that Buck had the power to gain the affection of
his men, as well as to cause them to fear him, so that Jake had not yet
found the time ripe for action.

After the outlaw had been put into the room by himself, as already
stated, the door locked, and a sentry posted below the window, he
immediately turned with all his energy to examine into his circumstances
and prospects. First of all his wrists were manacled. That, however,
gave him little concern, for his hands were unusually small and
delicate, and he knew from experience that he could slip them out of any
handcuffs that would close easily on his wrists--a fact that he had
carefully concealed, and of which men were not yet aware, as he had not
yet been under the necessity of availing himself of the circumstance.

The rope with which he had been bound on the way to the ranch had been
removed, the handcuffs being deemed sufficient. As the window of his
prison was over thirty feet from the ground, and a sentinel with a
carbine and revolver stood below, it was thought that the bird who had
so frequently escaped his cage before was safe at last, and fairly on
his way to the gallows.

Not so thought Jake the Flint. Despair did not seem to be a possibility
to him. Accordingly, he examined his prison carefully, and with a
hopeful smile. The examination was soon completed, for the room
presented no facilities whatever for escape. There was no bed from
which to take the sheets and blankets to extemporise a rope. No
mattress to throw over the window so as to break a heavy man's fall. No
chimney by which to ascend to the roof, no furniture, indeed, of any
kind beyond a deal chair and table. The door was of solid oak and
bolted outside.

Obviously the window was his only chance. He went to it and looked out.
The depth was too much, he knew, for even his strong bones to stand the
shock; and the sentinel paced to and fro underneath with loaded carbine.

"If any one would only lay a feather-bed down there," thought Jake, "I'd
jump an' take my chan