" The lad stepped away with nimble caution high above
the cabin, and he even took his shoes off before he slid lightly
down to his place behind the pine. There was no back door, only a
window, and his disappointment was bitter. Still, when he heard
Hale at the front door, he meant to make a break for that window,
and he waited in the still gloom. He could hear the rough talk and
laughter within and now and then the clink of a tin cup. By and by
there was a faint noise in front of the cabin, and he steadied his
nerves and his beating heart. Then he heard the door pushed
violently in and Hale's cry:
"Surrender!"
Hale stood on the threshold with his pistol outstretched in his
right hand. The door had struck something soft and he said sharply
again:
"Come out from behind that door--hands up!"
At the same moment, the back window flew open with a bang and
Bob's pistol covered the edge of the opened door. "Caliban" had
rolled from his box like a stupid animal. Two of his patrons sat
dazed and staring from Hale to the boy's face at the window. A
mountaineer stood in one corner with twitching fingers and
shifting eyes like a caged wild thing and forth issued from behind
the door, quivering with anger--young Dave Tolliver.
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