The Ely miner., 1909-05-07

room.
There may be little fuss out here,
Peter" cried the detective 'If you
hear the sound of a shot or scuffie,
just shoot the prisoner through the
! head first, and then come out and give
me hand"
dots shust vat I'll do" replied
Peter, placidly.
The members of the trio looked rath-
er blankly at once another, as they
listened to Peters reply. Clearly these
kidnapers of their luckless friend were
not persons to be trified with. They
turned away from Murray as though to
hold whispered conference, but that
alert officer interrupted them with
significant wave of one of his weapons.
"None of that" he said, tartly.
Face me, and keep your hands in
front, all of you."
They complied, sulkily, and the man
who had first spoken addressed Muir
ray again.
May we speak to the prisoner?" he
asked.
"One of you at time may, from
this side of the door of that room,"
assented Murray.
The spokesman Of the party ad-
vanced to the door of the chamber,
and hailed the prisoner by name. An
inarticulate gurgle was the only re-
sponse, and he turned puzzled face
to Murray.
"He don't answer" was his COM
ment. Guess your man must have
tied his mouth up"
"Oh, Peter" shouted Murray, "take
the plug out of that gentleman's jaw
and let him speak to his friends out
side the door,
A torrent of execrations in Baldy's
rough voice showed that the order
had been promptly obeyed. In reply
to his friends inquiry as to what Of
fense he had been arrested for, and
what he wanted them to do, the cap
tive again ragged furiously.
Don't stand there talking and chat
tering like a monkey" he yelled.
"Why don't you cussed fools get start.
ed and cut the hearts out Of these fel-
lers? If l had my hands free for just
minute I'd show you"
This sentence trailed off into an
other explosion of oaths, and Murray
grinned as he pointed to the front door
'I guess that will be all your friend
has to say" he remarked. SO
won't detain you three people any
longer. Goodnight"
Under cover of the detectives
guns the trio filed out of the main
door, Their comrades in the street
had retired to the edge of the side
walk, where they stood, talking the
matter over. AS the last of the trio
went out, he turned suddenly and
flung himself against the door. in ar
attempt to swing it wide open. Muir
ray, who had been expecting some
trick, thrust his shoulder squarely into
the fellows chest, sending him stag
gering backward, and slammed the
door.
There was chorus Of curses an(
shouts from those outside that seemed
to preclude another assault on the dool
against which Murray was leaning
with all his force, trying to Sc
cure Suddenly shot rang ou
in the back room, followed by hor
rible moan, and the yells of the attack
ing party ceased with startling abrupt
ness In the stiffness that ensued Muir
ray heard one of his enemies say, IL
agitated tones:
"By heavens, it's all off with poor
Badly now, boys. That skunk Of 6
marshal's pardner has shot him!"
well, what will we do now?" in
quired another voice.
dol" repeated the first speaker, bit
terly. what can we do? The only
plan can see is to wait till morning
comes, when there'll be light enough
to look about us. Then we can see
what we're up against, and maybe gel
chance to break even with them two
murderers. They can't get out of the
hotel without us seeing them, any
way, and I amt disposed to take
chances on a shooting bee with them
in the dark"
A murmur of assent ran through the
crowd about the door, and Murray
heaved sigh of relief as he shot the
last bolt into place and hastened to see
whether Dutch Peter had actually ad
ministered the coup-de-grace to the
redoubtable Badly. On entering the
back room he was greeted with g
cheerful grin by the deputy, who point
ed to the bound and gagged figure o1
the prisoner lying on the floor. About
an inch above the latter's head ap
peared round hole in the wall, q
] token of where the bullet from Peters
revolver had plowed it's way when he
fired the shot to cause the gang out
side to think that the prisoners earth
ly career was at an end.
The train for Chicago was due in
half an hour. Murray slipped upstairs
and peeped through window at the
beleaguering forces outside. They
were standing around in groups, drink
ing freely from whisky bottles, but not
forgetting to keep watch upon the
front entrance of the hotel. Murray
proceeded to explore the house in the
hope of finding another way of egress
and looking out through rear win
dow saw road leading to the station
He returned to Dutch Peter, and with
the deputy's assistance lugged his
prisoner out by the back door and
headed for the station. They lay con
cealed behind fence close by the
depot until the train came in, and then
picking up the helpless DrinkwateI
made bold rush for the nearest car
They got aboard safely and Murray
leaning out of the window as the
train moved off, caught parting
glance at the crowd riding to and frc
by the hotel, occasionally shooting
into the darkness.