frightened. There was a vicious sparkle in her eyes, and the color of
her cheeks was concentrated in two small spots, one under each cheek
bone. Just as her husband, succumbing to the inevitable, was turning
to take the keys from their nail and deliver them over, she quietly
reached behind him, and snatched them. Then, with a deft motion
opening the top of her gown a little, she dropped them into her bosom,
and looked at Perez with a defiant expression, as much as to say, "Now
I should like to see you get them."

There was no doubt about the little shrew being thoroughly game, and
yet her act was less striking as evidence of her bravery, than as
testifying her confidence in the chivalry of the rough men before her.
And, indeed, it was comical to see the dumbfoundered and chop-fallen
expression on their flushed and excited faces, as they took in the
meaning of this piece of strategy. They had taken up arms against
their government, and but a few moments before had been restrained
with difficulty from laying violent hands upon the august judges of
the land, but not the boldest of them thought it possible to touch
this woman. There were men here whom neither lines of bayonets nor
walls of stone would have turned back, but not one of them was bold
enough to lay a forcible hand upon the veil that covered a woman's
breast. They were Americans.

There was a dead silence. The men gaped at each other, and Perez
himself looked a little foolish for a moment. Then he turned to Abner
and said in a grimly quiet way:

"Knock Bement down. Then four of you swing him by his arms and legs
and break the jail door through with his head."