What the Outlaws do on their second Visit: with the awful Hours I pass
through, and how I find myself at the End.
The first thing I heard was a loud laugh, and then:
"How are you, Jud?" said Pike. "Back again, you see. Hope yer feeling
all right."
I saw I might as well make the best of it, though you may be sure I
was half scared to death.
"Yes, I'm feeling pretty well," I said. "I was able to be about the
last time you were here, maybe you remember."
Pike scowled at me. "Yes, that's so, you was," he said. "You stood us
off in pretty good shape that time--you and the snow. We were fools
not to find out that you were all alone. But we app'inted an
investigating committee _this_ time, and we're onto your game. Just
excuse me, but I'll have to ask you to wear a little of Taggart's
jewelry while we tend to some important business."
He pulled out a pair of handcuffs and slipped one of them around my
wrist and shut it up so tight that it pressed into the flesh. Then he
led me in front of the counter, slipped the other cuff through a brace
under the front edge of the counter, and then clasped it around my
other wrist, leaving the short chain which connected the cuffs behind
the brace, so that I was a prisoner. He pushed up a chair and said:
"Set down and make yourself comfortable, Jud. I'll see if I can't find
a handful of buttons for you, and you can put 'em on the counter and
play checkers with your nose."
The men laughed at this, and Pike went on:
"We met your pardner out here, the dark-complected feller. He was
a-riding off our pinto that we left here by mistake last winter, with
our saddle and things, and a-leading your two broncs, so we just
stopped him and gathered 'em in, and I reckon they're _all_ our'n now,
_most_ of 'em, _anyhow_. And in consideration of our only shooting him
around the edges careful like, he give us some valuable information,
such as just where you was a-sleeping, Jud, and where we'd find the
blacksmith tools, and so forth. That's the way to get along with an
Injun and have everything all easy-going--shoot 'im, _very careful_,
around the edges."
Again they all laughed, and then went out the back door, which, I
noticed, had a small hole cut in it over the bolt big enough to let in
a man's hand. There were five of them, counting Pike. The windows were
boarded up and it was dark in the store, but as the door opened I saw
that it was quite light outside and that it was snowing.
[Illustration: PIKE HANDCUFFING ME IN THE DRUG STORE, MARCH NINETEENTH]
As I sat there in the dark unable to move and with the handcuffs
cutting into my wrists you may believe I was miserable enough. I
expected nothing short of being killed by the gang before they left. I
saw what a fool I had been to trust the scoundrelly Indian even as
much as I had. It was a little satisfaction, however, to know that he
had failed to get off with his stolen property even if it had fallen
into the hands of a worse set of thieves. I soon heard them at work on
the safe in the bank. Of course I thought of my fuse, but it was a
dozen feet away, the other side of the counter, and I could see not a
shadow of hope of getting at it.
I think I sat there as much as two hours, listening to the noise in
the next building, when Pike came in and said:
"You'll be glad to hear, Jud, that we're getting along beautiful on
that safe. We're a-going to blow the stuffing out of it the next thing
_you_ know. Reckon if you ain't particular we'll just borrow a sleigh
we see out here and a set of Sours's harness for a couple of our
horses when we go away, 'cause we think the specie may be a little
heavy. Besides, we're calculating there may be some other stuff around
town worth taking off--Winchesters and such agricultural and
stock-raising implements," and he laughed. He seemed to be in very
good humor.
He went back, and for another long while I heard nothing but steady
drilling on the safe and a little of their talk, though I could not
catch much of that. Sometimes, too, I could hear Kaiser barking. He
was locked in the hotel, and I thought he knew I was in trouble and
wanted to get out and help me.
After what seemed hours Pike came in again.
"We blow 'er open now very shortly," he said. "A reg'ler little Fourth
o' July celebration of our own, hey, Jud?" Then he laughed and went
on: "We need that money and you bet it's going to come handy." He
looked at me, came closer with the lantern, and said:
"Jud, what d'ye say to coming in with us and having your share like a
man? You're a good one, if you _are_ young, and we can find plenty of
work for you, and always you get your share."
"No," I said, "I don't care to."
He looked at me sharply a moment and then went on:
"Just as you please, of course. But me and the boys was talking it
over and we calculated it was the best way to dispose of you, a _pile_
the best for you and _some_ better for us."
I had kept looking straight into his eyes, under his big eyebrows.
"No," I said, "I won't do it."
"Oh, take your choice," he answered, "take your choice. Just as you
think best, of course. Only you know the old saying about how dead men
don't tell any tales. And if you come in with us you get your share,
just the same as if you'd done your part of the work."
I said nothing. He waited a minute, then went out and shut the door. I
sprang up and pulled and wrenched at the brace with all my strength.
The handcuffs cut into my wrists, but I did not feel it. The brace
stayed as firm as ever. I sat down weak and trembling with my last
hope gone. A minute later there was a loud explosion in the bank,
which shook the building I was in. Next came a cheer from the men.
Then voices, and I heard Pike shout:
"It's all afire here--bring a pail of water, Joe!"
The well windlass creaked and I heard a man start in from the back.
Next I heard Pike say, "We'll soon fix that fire," then came an
explosion and a crash, like an earthquake, and the wall came down upon
me, and the counter came over and I was half under it. I heard the
cries of the men, and, wriggling about, I got out from under the
counter and found my hands free from the brace, and the snowflakes
coming in my face through where half the side of the building had been
blown away.