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252 pistol upon him, and I continued with greater confidence— "If you raise your voice to call out, or if anyone comes to this room, you die where you sit."

He heard me then more calmly, and replied deliberately— "Boy, you are the first that's bested Black."

"I'll take your word for that," I said; "but take care—you are moving your hand." He held it still at once and continued— "I'm caught like a rat in the hole. What do ye want? Name it, and I'll know how we stand!"

"I want my life—my life, now that I refuse to sign that paper."

"Yes," he said, "that's a fair request, though I can't say it's in my power to make it that way."

"It's in your power to stand with me—you can give the order that no man's to lay a finger on me, and you will?"

He thought a moment, looking straight down the barrel of the Colt. Then he said— "Yes, I can't avoid that—I'll give you that."

"And my liberty on the first occasion offering."

"No," he replied very slowly and sternly; "that's more than the devil himself could offer you; they'd tear me to pieces."