"Gentlemen, I'm a sworn officer of the law, I--"

"Drap that! Open that cell door, ur we'll put daylight through you."

This was followed by the low, pleading voice of the jailer's wife,
begging her husband to comply with the demand, and the wailing of two
or three children.

"Wait, then!" yielded the jailer. Westerfelt heard a door slam and
chains clank and rattle on the wooden floor; a bolt was slid back, the
front door opened, and the white drift parted to receive a dark form.

"Whar's my hoss?" doggedly asked Toot Wambush.

"Out thar hitched to the fence," answered the leader.

"You-uns was a hell of a time comin'," retorted Wambush.

"Had to git together; most uv us never even heerd uv yore capture tell
a hour by sun. Huh, you'd better thank yore stars we re'ched you when
we did."

The band filed out of the gate and mounted their horses. Toot Wambush
was a little in advance of the others. He suddenly turned his horse
towards the hotel.

Westerfelt instinctively drew back behind the curtain, Harriet caught
his arm and clung to it.

"Go to your room!" she whispered. "You'd better; you must not stay