"It's not an eloper
they're after, but a desperado."
"A kidnaper, perhaps," suggested his wife.
"What are we to do?" demanded Jack Barnes.
"First, old man, what have you actually done?" asked the Reverend
"Jimmy."
"Nothing that's worth a thousand dollars, I'm dead sure," said Barnes
positively. "By George, Marjory, this is a nice mess I've led you into!"
"It's all right, Jack; I'm happier than I ever was before in my life. We
ran away to get married, and I'll go to jail with you if they'll take
me."
"This is no time for kissing," objected Crosby sourly. "We must find out
what it all means. Leave it to me."
It was getting dark in the room, and the shadows were heavy on the
hills. While the remaining members of the besieged party sat silent and
depressed upon the casks and boxes, Crosby stood at the window calling
to the enemy.
"Is he ready to surrender?" thundered Anderson Crow from the shadows.
Then followed a brief and entirely unsatisfactory dialogue between the
two spokesmen. Anderson Crow was firm in his decision that the fugitive
did not have to be told what he had done; and George Crosby was equally
insistent that he had to be told before he could decide whether he was
guilty or innocent.
"We'll starve him out!" said Anderson Crow.
"But there are ladies here, my good man; you won't subject them to such
treatment!"
"You're all of a kind--we're going to take the whole bunch!"
"What do you think will happen to you if you are mistaken in your man?"
"We're not mistaken, dang ye!"
"He could sue you for every dollar you possess.
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