e demanded. "Get him now. Are you goin' to let
him get away? Once he's on his horse he'll---- Say, he's got blood on
his hands, and he's the on'y man with reason to wish Will Henderson
dead. Gee, get his guns away an' strap him fast."

But the doctor ignored the interruption.

"You're coming out there, Jim Thorpe," he said deliberately, "or
you'll hand over your guns, and----"

"Consider myself under your arrest, eh?" Jim promptly removed both of
his guns from their holsters, and handed them, butt first, to the
doctor. "Guess I'll stay right here," he said easily. "And I'm glad to
hand you those; it'll save me using them on Smallbones."

The furious hardware dealer now bristled up, and his mean face was
thrust up so that he stared into Jim's with all the cruelty of his
hatred laid bare in his eyes.

"Yes, you ken stay right here an' we'll look after you, me an' a few
o' the boys. You're a prisoner, Jim Thorpe, and if you attempt to
escape, we'll blow you to bits. We'll look after you, sure. You shan't
escape, don't you mistake. It 'ud do me good to hand you a little lead
pizenin'."

"I've no doubt," was all the answer Jim vouchsafed.

But before Smallbones could retort, Peter Blunt, followed by Jake
Wilkes and Angel Gay, approached.

"We'll stay here too, Doc," he said. "Guess Smallbones'll need help.
You see he isn't much of a man to look after a prisoner. Anyway, Jim
Thorpe's a friend of ours."

"Right, Peter, an' you two fellers," cried the relieved doctor. "I ken
hear the buckboard I sent over for comin' along. I'll start right
out." Then he added pointedly, "I guess I'll leave him in your
charge."

The doctor passed out and was followed at once by most of Rocket's
customers, all eager to investigate the murder for their own morbid
satisfaction. And thus only the three friends of Jim Thorpe, with
Smallbones and two others, were left with the prisoner.

The moment the doors had swung to behind the last of the departures,
Peter Blunt suddenly strode across the room to where Smallbones stood,
staring at his intended victim with snapping eyes. So sudden was his
approach that the little man was taken quite unawares. He seized him
by the collar with one hand, and with the other deprived him of the
guns with which he was still armed, as a result of his service on the
vigilance committee, and, though he struggled and cursed violently, he
carried him bodily to the door and deliberately flung him outside.

"If