“Oh, he does, eh?”

“Yes, sir-ee-o-bob; he’s got to give up, dead or alive!  Trot him out lively, now!”

“I don’t mind telling you that Mr. Barnes is here; but I’d like to know why you’re hunting him down like a wild beast, shooting at him and Miss—­I mean Mrs. Barnes.  It’s an outrage!”

“Oh, we ain’t the on’y people that can kill and slaughter!  She’s just as bad as he is, for that matter—­an’ so are you and that other lantern-jawed outlaw in there.”  The Reverend “Jimmy” gasped and turned a fiery red.

“Did he call me a—­say!” and he pushed Crosby aside.  “I’d have you to understand that I’m a minister of the gospel—­I am the Reverend James Bracken, of—­”

A roar of laughter greeted his attempt to explain; and there were a few remarks so uncomplimentary that the man of cloth sank back in sheer hopelessness.

“Well, I’ll give them reason to think that I’m something of a desperado,” grated the Reverend “Jimmy,” squaring his shoulders.  “If they attempt to put foot inside my uncle’s house I’ll—­I’ll smash a few heads.”

“Bravo!” cried Mrs. Crosby.  She was his cousin, and up to that time had had small regard for her mild-mannered relative.

“He can preach the funeral!” shouted Ike Smalley.  By this time there were a dozen men on the bank below.

“I give you fair warning,” cried Anderson Crow impressively.  “We’re goin’ to surround the house, an’ we’ll take that rascal if we have to shoot the boards into sawdust!”

“But what has he done, except to get married?” called Crosby as the posse began to spread out.

“Do you s’pose I’m fool enough to tell you if you don’t know?” said Anderson Crow.  “Just as like as not you’d be claimin’ the thousand dollars reward if you knowed it had been offered!  Spread out, boys, an’ we’ll show ’em dern quick!”

There was dead silence inside the house for a full minute.  Every eye was wide and every mouth was open in surprise and consternation.

“A thousand dollars reward!” gasped Jack Barnes.  “Then, good Lord, I must have done something!”

“What have you been doing, Jack Barnes?” cried his bride, aghast.

“I must have robbed a train,” said he dejectedly.

“Well, this is serious, after all,” said Crosby.  “It’s not an eloper they’re after, but a desperado.”

“A kidnaper, perhaps,” suggested his wife.

“What are we to do?” demanded Jack Barnes.

“First, old man, what have you actually done?” asked the Reverend “Jimmy.”

“Nothing that’s worth a thousand dollars, I’m dead sure,” said Barnes positively.  “By George, Marjory, this is a nice mess I’ve led you into!”

“It’s all right, Jack; I’m happier than I ever was before in my life.  We ran away to get married, and I’ll go to jail with you if they’ll take me.”

“This is no time for kissing,” objected Crosby sourly.  “We must find out what it all means.  Leave it to me.”