CHAPTER V.
HURRIED TO JAIL.
At this moment another wild roar rose outside the station, telling thatsomething had again aroused the mob:
Hank Kildare was in the doorway, blocking it with his gigantic form, hislong-barreled revolvers holding the crowd at bay, while he hoarselycried:
"You galoots know me! Ef yer crowd me, some o' yer will take hiseverlastin' dose o' lead!"
They dared not crowd him. He could hold them back at that point, butthere were other ways of reaching the interior of the waiting-room,where the prisoner was.
"Ther back door!" howled a voice. "We kin git at him thet way!"
"Hear that?" fluttered Professor Scotch. "They're coming, Frank! We mustget out before they get in that way! Quick!"
He caught hold of the boy, and started to urge him toward the rear door;but Lona Dawson placed herself squarely in their path, flinging up onehand.
"Stop!" she cried, her eyes flashing. "You cannot pass! You shall notescape!"
A look of admiration came into Frank's eyes, for she was very beautifulat that moment.
"As you will," he bowed, gallantly. "I may get my neck stretched byremaining, but your wish is law."
"Well, I like that!" roared the professor, in a manner that plainlyindicated he did not like it.
"Av ye choose ter make a fool av yersilf, Frank, it's not yer friendsthot will see ye do it in this case!" cried Barney.
The Irish lad grasped Frank by one arm, while the professor clutched theother, and they were about to rush him toward the door, for all of anyopposition, when the door flew open with a bang, and a man pitchedheadlong into the room. This person carried a bundle, which burst openas he struck the floor, scattering its contents in all directions.
"Moses in der pulrushes!" exclaimed the nasal voice of Solomon Rosenbum,and the Jew sat up in the midst of the wreck. "Dat vas vat I call comin'in lifely, vid der accent on der lifely!"
"The dure!" shouted Barney. "They're coming round to get in thot way!"
The frightened station agent thrust his head out of an inner office, andsaid:
"The door can be braced. The brace is just behind it."
Not a moment was to be lost, for the mob was at the very door, and wouldbe pouring into the station in a moment. Barney sprang for the heavybrace, but he would have been too late if it had not been for thesingular Jew.
Solomon leaped to his feet, sprang for the door, and planted his footwith terrific force in the stomach of the first man who was trying toenter, hurling that individual back against those immediately behind.
"Good-tay!" cried the Jew. "Uf I don'd see you some more, vat vos dertifference!"
Slam! The door went to solidly. Bang! The bar went against it, beingheld in position by heavy cleats on both door and floor.
"Holdt der vort!" rasped Solomon, with great satisfaction. "Dot was verywell tone. I didn't vant dose beople comin' und drampin' all ofer minegoots. Id vould haf ruint me."
The mob beat against the door, howling with baffled rage.
"Thot wur a narrow escape, Frankie, me b'y!" said Barney.
"That's what it was," admitted Frank, who realized that his chance forlife would have been less than one in a thousand if the crowd had burstinto the room.
"Vell, I don'd sharge nodding vor dat, uf you puy a goot pill uf gootsvrom me," said the Jew.
"The window!" came from Professor Scotch. "They are about to comethrough the window!"
Crash! Jingle! Jangle! The window was smashed, and the mob was seenswarming toward it.
Suddenly, Solomon Rosenbum sprang toward the opening, a revolver in hishand.
"Holdt on, mine friendts!" he cried, waving the weapon. "Uf anypodydried to get in py dis vindow, he vill ged shot, vid der accent on dershot!"
"Begobs, thot is roight!" shouted Barney Mulloy, as he suddenly produceda "gun," and took his place at Solomon's side. "Kape off, me jools, avye want ter kape whole skins!"
The mob hesitated. Thus it had been baffled at every turn, and the madheat of the moment was beginning to subside. Still, it could be arousedagain in a twinkling.
Hank Kildare alone could not have protected his prisoner from the crowd,but he had done all one man could possibly do. Now, of a sudden, heretreated into the station, closing and bolting the door.
"That," he said, with a breath of satisfaction, "so fur, everything isall right. An' now it is ter see ef----"
He was interrupted by pistol shots outside, and bullets began whistlingin at the broken window.
With an exclamation of anger, the fearless sheriff flung his massivebody into the window, roaring:
"Hold up thar, you critters! Don't you know anything a tall? Thar isladies in hyar, an' yer might shoot 'em ef yer keep flingin' lead roundso promiscuous like!"
"We want Black Harry!" yelled a voice.
"Wa-al, ye'll hev ter want!" returned the sheriff. "You galoots know mepurty well, an' ye know I ain't in ther habit o' talkin' crooked. Itells yer right yar an' now thet ye can't hev Black Harry. I offeredther reward fer ther critter, an' I'm goin' ter hold him, you bet! He'llbe lodged in jail, ur Canadian County will be minus a sheriff!"
It was plain that his words impressed them, but they were reluctant togive over the hope of lynching the boy prisoner.
"Look yere, Kildare," said a thin, wiry, iron-jawed man, who wore a hugesombrero and leather breeches, "I'm Bill Buckhorn, o' 'Rapahoe, an'thet's a place whar we don't 'low no critter like this yere Black Harryter go waltzin' round more then sixteen brief second by ther clock. Weketches such cusses, an' then we takes 'em out an' shows 'em how ter doa jog on empty air. Over in 'Rapahoe we allows thet thar is ther way terdispose o' sech cases, and I'm ready ter show you people o' Elreno therpurtiest way ter tie a runnin' knot in a hemp necktie. Whatever is theruse o' foolin' around an' dallyin' with ther law when it's right easyter git rid o' critters like this yere Black Harry without no trouble atall, an' make things lively in ther town at ther same time? Pass himout, sheriff, an' I'll agree not ter do ye ary bit o' damage!"
"Wa-al, you are kind!" returned Kildare, contemptuously. "You're mightykind, an' I allows thet I 'preciates it. I reckons you galoots over inthet forsaken, 'way-back, never-heard-of hole called 'Rapahoe setsyerselves up fer a law unto ther rest o' Oklahoma an' all other parts o'creation! You allows thar don't nobody else but you critters know whatis right an' proper, an' so you has ther cheek ter come over hyar an'tell us what ter do! You even offers ter show me how ter tie a runnin'knot in a rope, an' I will admit thet I've tied more knots o' thet kindthen you ever heard of! Take my advice, my gentle stranger frum'Rapahoe, an' go get right off ther earth, afore something happens teryer which yer won't like none whatever!"
This bit of sarcasm was appreciated by the assembled citizens of Elreno,and they raised a howl at Bill Buckhorn, scores of voices hurlingderisive epithets at the lank stranger.
Buckhorn grew intensely angry, and he howled:
"You galoots make me sick! You're short on fer hawse sense, an' thet'splain enough!"
"Take a tumble!"
"Puckachee!"
"All right! All right!" cried the man from 'Rapahoe, waving his hands,each of which clutched a huge revolver. "You kin run yer blamed old townter suit yerselves, an' I allows thet Black Harry fools yer all an' gitserway! I hopes he does, an' I draws out o' this yere game right now."
He thrust his revolvers into leather holsters made to receive them, andstrode away, forcing a passage through the crowd, and pretending not tohear the derisive epithets hurled at him.
Hank Kildare smiled, with grim satisfaction.
"Thet wuz ther best thing could hev happened," he muttered. "It tooktheir 'tention erway fer a minute, an' now it's likely I kin talk theminter reason."
He tried it, without delay. He urged them to disperse, promising thatBlack Harry should be lodged in Elreno jail, and properly tried for hislife.
"This yar lynchin' is bad business," concluded the sheriff. "I willallow thet I hev tak
en a hand in more than one lynchin' party, but I'mderned 'shamed o' it. Law is law, an' no gang o' human critters has aright ter take ther law in their han's. I hev swore never ter let one o'my prisoners be lynched, ef I kin help it, an' I'll set 'em free, an'furnish 'em with guns ter fight fer their lives, afore I'll see 'emstrung up by a mob. At ther same time, I'd ruther be shot then forcedter do such a thing."
Kildare was so well known that every one who heard him felt sure he wasnot "talking wind," that being something he never did.
There was muttering in the crowd. The worst passions of the mob had beenaroused, and now it hated to be robbed of its prey.
"Hank Kildare means whatever he says," declared more than one. "He'llfight ter hold Black Harry."
Some cursed Kildare, and that aroused the anger of the sheriff'sfriends, so it seemed at one time as if the mob would fall into apitched battle among themselves.
"Let 'em fight," muttered the giant, who still held the broken window."Ef they git at it, I'll find some way ter slip 'em and put my man interther jail."
But they did not fight. Kildare called on them to disperse, and a fewwent away; but a great crowd lingered in sullen silence outside thestation, waiting and watching.
"They want ter git another look at Black Harry," muttered the sheriff,knitting his brows. "Ef they do thet, they're likely ter break looseagain, like a lot o' wild tigers. How kin I make 'em disperse, so I kinkerry him ter ther jail?"
"I will appeal to them," said a musical voice at his elbow.
He turned, and saw Lona Dawson there.
"You?"
"Yes. It is possible they will listen to me."
"They mought. I'd clean forgot you wuz hyar. Go ahead an' try yer luck,little one."
He stepped aside, and she appeared in the window. The moment she wasseen, all muttering ceased in the crowd, and every one gave herattention.
"Gentlemen," she began, speaking clearly and loud enough for all tohear, "you must confess that I have as much interest as any one here inseeing this youthful ruffian brought to justice. I do not wish to seehim lynched, but I wish him to receive such punishment as the law maygive him."
"Ther law is slow!" cried a voice.
"An' it often fails!" came from another direction.
"In this case there is no reason why it should fail, for there is proofenough to convict Black Harry. It will not fail."
"He may escape from jail."
"That is not likely. Now, for my sake, I ask you all to disperse--toallow the officers to take Black Harry to jail. If you do not disperse,I shall remain here, and I will protect the prisoner with my own bodyand my life, for I am determined that he shall be legally tried andproperly punished."
There was a moment of silence, and then a voice shouted:
"Thar's stuff fer yer, pards! Ther leetle gal has clean grit, an' I'mfer doin' as she asks. Who's with me?"
"I am!" a hundred voices seemed to roar.
"Then come on. Good-by, leetle gal; we're goin'."
Every head was bared, and the crowd began to disperse with swiftness, sothat, in a very few minutes, all had departed.
Then came the deputy sheriffs, with horses, and arrangements forconveying the prisoner to the jail were swiftly completed.
Frank had advised the professor and Barney not to be too outspoken, forfear they might also be arrested. He advised them to keep quiet, but towork for him to the best of their ability, and lose no time.
A handshake, a hurried parting, and the boy was borne away to jail.