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“I’m talkin’ about those men comin’ up the street,” said the old town marshal sharply.

Miss Becker abandoned the transient sunset for something more durable. Forty-odd summers had passed over her head.

For one professedly indifferent to the opposite sex, Miss Becker went far toward dislocating her neck when Anderson Crow mentioned the approach of a couple of strange men.

“I’ve never seen either of them before, Mr. Crow,” she said, a little jump in her voice.

“That settles it,” said Anderson, putting on his spectacles.

“Settles what?”

“Proves they ain’t been in Tinkletown more’n twenty minutes,” he replied, much too promptly to suit Miss Becker, who favoured him with a look he wouldn’t have forgotten in a long time if he had had eyes in the back of his head. “They must be lookin’ for some one,” he went on, squinting narrowly. “Good-bye, Sue. See you tomorrer, I suppose.”

“I’m not going yet, Mr. Crow,” she said, moving a little closer to the fence. “You don’t suppose I’m going to let those men pursue me all the way home, do you?”

“They don’t look like kidnappers,” he said. “Besides, it ain’t dark enough yet.”

“Just what do you mean by that, Anderson Crow?” she snapped.

“What do I mean by what?” he inquired in some surprise.

“By what you just said.”

“I mean you’re perfectly safe as long as it’s daylight,” he retorted. “What else could I mean?”

The two strangers were quite near by this time–near enough, in fact, to cause Miss Becker to lower her voice as she said:

“They’re awfully nice looking gentlemen, ain’t they?”

Evidently Mr. Crow’s explanation had satisfied her, for she was smiling with considerable vivacity as she made the remark. Up to that instant she had neglected her back hair. Now she gracefully, lingeringly fingered it to see if it was properly in place. In doing so, she managed to drop her parasol.

To her chagrin, Marshal Crow took that occasion to behave in a most incredible manner. It is quite probable that he forgot himself. In any case, he picked up the parasol and returned it to her, snatching it, in fact, almost from beneath the foot of the nearest stranger.

“Oh, thank you–thank you kindly, Mr. Crow,” she giggled, and proceeded to let it slip out of her fingers again. “Oh, how stupid! How perfectly clumsy–“

“Did I hear you addressed as Mr. Crow?” inquired the foremost of the two strangers, halting abruptly. He was a tall, florid man of forty or thereabouts, with a deep and not unpleasant voice. His companion was also tall but very gaunt and sallow. He wore huge round spectacles, hooked over his ears. Both were well dressed, one in grey flannel, the other in blue serge.

“You did,” said the town marshal, straightening up. “You dropped your umbrell’ ag’in, Sue,” he added. “Yes, sir, my name’s Crow.”

Miss Becker waited a few seconds and then picked up the parasol.

“The celebrated Anderson Crow?” asked the man with the glasses, opening his eyes a little wider.

Anderson opened his eyes and stared.

He found himself in a small, squat room lighted by a lantern which stood upon a crudely made table in the corner beyond Bonaparte. There was a board floor well littered with soil and shavings. In another corner stood a singular looking contraption, not unlike a dynamo.

Marshal Crow bethought himself of his mission. Although the breath had been jarred out of his body, he managed to say,–explosively:

“I–I got a warrant for your arrest. Come along now! Don’t resist. Don’t make a fuss. Come along peaceably. I–“

“I’ll come, Mr. Crow. I was dragged into this thing against my will. Gott in Himmel! Gott!–“

“Never mind what you got,” exclaimed Anderson sharply. “You come along with me or you’ll get something worse’n that.”

“Is–is he dead!” groaned Bonaparte, his eyes almost starting from his head.

Anderson backed away from the sprawling, motionless figure on the floor.

“I–I–gosh, I hope not. I–I was as much surprised as anybody. Say, you see if he’s breathin’. We got to git him out o’ this place right away an’ send for a doctor. The good Lord knows I didn’t intend to light on him like that. It was an accident, I swear it was. You know just how it happened, an’–you’ll stand by me, won’t you, if–“