Page:Tomlinson--The rider of the black horse.djvu/128

112 her mother, who was standing near the two rifles, and quietly watched the men as they assembled about their leader.

"The fellow is here. I know he is," said Claudius Brown savagely.

"Why don't you get him then, Claud?" demanded one of his followers.

"Why don't I? Because I 've got a lot of men who can't see a barn door right before their eyes!"

"Just tell us where to look, Claud, and we'll string him up for you before he can get time to wink."

"The women know where he is," said the leader, as he glanced wickedly at Mrs. Nott and Hannah.

"Well, if they know they can be made to tell," replied the man. "So they can, Jim," said another. "What's the use in wasting our time here when we could make them tell in three minutes?"

The face of Mrs. Nott became deadly pale as she turned for an instant to glance at her daughter, and almost instinctively both moved a little nearer to the guns.

"It won't be the first time, Claud," said the man who had first spoken. For a moment the leader hesitated, while his followers made