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The door flew open. Alf Reesling burst into the room, followed by both of Anderson Crow’s daughters.

“Come on, Anderson!” shouted Alf, gasping with excitement. “Good even’, Mrs. Crow. Howdy do? Hurry up, Ander–“

“We tried to keep him out, Ma,” broke in Caroline Crow, glaring at Alf. “We told him you were in bed, but he–“

“Well, gosh a’mighty,” cried Alf in exasperation, “we can’t wait all night. We got track o’ them fellers, but if we got to set around out here till mornin’ just because your ma’s in bed, I–I–well, that’s all I got to say.” He turned to Anderson for support, and catching the look in his eye, bawled: “No, I ain’t been drinkin’, Anderson Crow! I’m as sober as a–“

“Get out of my bedroom this minute, Alf Reesling,” cried Mrs. Crow. “I’ll tell your wife how you’re behavin’ if you–“

“Go ahead an’ tell her,” snorted Alf, goaded beyond endurance. “She ain’t had a good laugh since the time Anderson had his pocket picked up at Boggs City, fair-week. Go ahead an’–“

“Come on, Alf–lively now,” broke in Mr. Crow hastily. “We got to be on the jump. Gosh, listen to them dogs! Never heard so much barkin’ in all my life.”

Out of the house rushed the two men. Anderson immediately began issuing orders.

“Ed Higgins, you take a squad o’ men and go back to the fire. We got our hands full tonight. Now, all you fellers as has got pistols an’ shotguns go home an’ get ’em at oncet. Come back here as quick as you can an’–what say, Harry?”

He turned to the reporter.

“I said the first thing to do is to shoot about thirty or forty of these infernal dogs.”

“We can’t afford to waste ca’tridges, Harry Squires,” said Anderson severely. “We got to tackle a desperate gang ‘fore we’re through.”

“Where is your daughter Caroline, Mr. Crow?” inquired the reporter irrelevantly.

“She’s in the house tryin’ to quiet her ma. A drunk man bust into her room a little while ago an’–“

“Well, tell her to get on the job at once. She’s chief telephone operator down at the exchange, and she ought to be there now sending out warnings to every town within twenty miles of–“

“Carrie! Car-ree!” shouted Anderson, racing up the path. “How many times have I got to tell you to ‘tend to that telephonin’? Go down to the office this minute an’ call up Boggs City an’–“

“I’m not the night operator,” snapped Caroline, appearing in the window. “What’s the matter with Jane Swiggers and Lucy Cummings? They’re supposed to be on duty all night.”

“Don’t sass back! Do as I tell you. Telephone every town in the county to be on the lookout fer an automobile with two tires and a couple of inner tubes–“

“Two new tires, Caroline,” amended Harry Squires.

“And carrying a tin safe with George W. Brubaker’s name on it in red letters. Say that a complete description of the robbers will follow. Is your ma still in bed?”

“Yes, she is.”

“Well, you tell her I’ll be home soon as I capture them desperadoes.” He was moving toward the front gate. Caroline’s paraphrase pursued him and left a sting:

“What is home without a father!”

Followed now a lengthy and at times acrimonious argument as to the further operations of the marshal’s posse.

“We’re losing valuable time,” protested Harry Squires at the end of a half-hour’s fertile discussion. Fertile is here employed instead of futile, for never was there a more extensive crop of ideas raised by human agency.

“We can’t do anything till we find out which way the derned rascals went, can we?” said Mr. Crow bitingly. “We got to find somebody that seen ’em start off in that automobile. We–“

“Stuff and nonsense!” cried Harry. “We’ve got to split up into parties and follow every road out of Tinkletown.”

“How in thunder do you expect me to lead five or six different posses?” demanded Anderson.

“Yes, an’ what in thunder would we do if we caught up with ’em unexpected-like if we didn’t have Anderson with us?” said Alf Reesling, loyal to the core. “In the first place, we wouldn’t have any legal right to capture ’em, and in the second place we couldn’t do it anyhow.”