feller with the uniform on didn't do all right in hittin' Lum,
but what we wants t' find out is who winged him in the wrist."

"I think, gentlemen, that the second shot was fired through the window.
I am quite certain that it was. I sat near the window and the report of
the weapon seemed to be behind me," Anne Nesbit informed them.

There was a concerted rush for the outer air, leaving the Overlanders to
attend to Lum Bangs, who was now almost wholly restored to
consciousness. Julie Thompson was standing back a little from the group
about him, gazing at Lum, a heavy frown on her forehead. Grace nodded
and smiled to the girl.

"Don't worry, Julie. He will be all right in a few moments," soothed the
Overland girl.

"I ain't worryin' fer the likes o' him," she replied, elevating her chin
and turning her back on her escort.

The Overland girls looked at each other inquiringly.

"Ah hearn somethin' 'bout ye to-night, Lum Bangs, that ye don't know as
Ah does know," she said, whirling suddenly on him.

"You-all ain't goin' back on me, are yuh, Julie?" begged Lum.

"Naw. Ah ain't goin' back on ye, cause Ah already has. Ah don't want
nothin' more t' do with ye. Understand?"

The mountaineer's face reddened.

"Who shot me?" he demanded, sitting up suddenly and feeling for his
weapon.

"You needn't look at me that way," objected Hippy. "I didn't shoot you.
I punched you, that's all. Some one on the outside of the building fired
the shot that hit you. I--"

A commotion at the door interrupted Hippy. The mountaineers came
crowding in dragging Washington Washington with them. Washington's eyes
were rolling, and he was trembling from fright.

"Is this heah your niggah?" demanded one, glaring at Hippy.

"No, he isn't my 'niggah,' but he belongs to our outfit. Why?" replied
Lieutenant Wingate.

"'Cause we found him hidin' in the bushes, an' reckoned as mebby he is
the feller that shot Lum."

"What, Wash?" laughed Emma Dean. "Why, Wash couldn't hit the side of a
barn with a shotgun. Besides, he has no revolver, and it was a revolver
that fired the shot you refer to."

"Let me talk to him," urged Grace. "Washington, were you outside near
the building when the shots were fired?" she asked in a soothing tone.

"Yessah--yes'm."

"Did you see any one near the window?"

"Yessah--yes'm. Ah--Ah sawed er man hidin' in de bush dere."

"Did you see him shoot?" asked Elfreda.

"Ah did not, but Ah heard him shoot, den w'en