was unlocked,
but they imagined the place to be completely surrounded by vengeful
villagers, who would cut them down like rats if they ventured forth. Had
they but known that Bud was alone, it is quite likely they would have
sallied forth and relieved him of his guns, spanked him soundly and then
ambled off unmolested to the country.

All the morning old Maude had been groaning and swearing in the office,
where she lay unattended. Bud was telling his friends how he had knocked
her down twice in the cave, after she had shot six times and slashed at
him with her dagger, when a sudden cessation of groans from the interior
attracted the attention of all. "Doc" Smith arrived at that juncture
and found the boys listening intently for a resumption of the
picturesque profanity. It was some time before the crowd became large
enough to inspire a visit to the interior of the calaboose. As became
his dignity, Bud led the way.

The old woman, unable to endure the pain any longer, and knowing full
well that her days were bound to end in prison, had managed, in some
way, to hang herself from a window bar beside her bed, using a twisted
bed sheet. She was quite dead when "Doc" made the examination. A
committee of the whole started at once to notify Anderson Crow. For a
minute it looked as though the jail would be left entirely unguarded,
but Bud loyally returned to his post, reinforced by Roscoe and the
doctor.

Upon Mr. Crow's arrival at the jail, affairs assumed some aspect of
order. He first locked the grate doors, thereby keeping the fiery David
from coming out to see his mother before they cut her down. A messenger
was sent for the coroner at Boggs City, and then the big body was
released from its last hanging place.

"Doggone, but this is a busy day fer me!" said Anderson. "I won't have
time to pump them fellers till this evenin'. But I guess they'll keep.
'What's that, Blootch?"

"I was just goin' to ask Bud if they're still in there," said Blootch.

"Are they, Bud?" asked Anderson in quick alarm.

"Sure," replied Bud with a mighty swelling of the chest. Even Blootch
envied him.

"She's been dead jest an hour an' seven minutes," observed Anderson,
gingerly touching the dead woman's wrist. "Doggone, I'm glad o' one
thing!"

"What's that, Anderson?"

"We won't have to set her hip. Saved expense."

"But we'll have to bury her, like as not," said Isaac Porter.

"Yes," said Anderson reflectively. "She'll have to be bu