“Not sayin’ anything, eh?” jeered Antrim.  “Well, come a-shootin’.  You bust in here, seein’ red, with a gun in your hand; an’ then stand there, like you was wonderin’ if you was welcome.”  He peered close at Lawler, his eyes narrowing with suspicion, and then, finally, with savage amusement.

“I reckon I ketch on,” he sneered.  “You know there’s some one here with me, an’ that they’ve got you covered.  I know you, an’ I knowed you’d come rushin’ in here, just like you did, killin’ mad.  Bah!  Did you think I’d give you a chance, you short-horned maverick!  There’s Selden behind that curtain, there—­back of the cupboard.  An’ Krell watchin’ you from the door of that room, on the side.  They’ve got you between them, an’ if you bat an eyewinker they’ll down you.  I’m goin’ to gas to you—­I’m goin’ to tell you what I think of you for ropin’ me an’ draggin’ me back to Willets, to show to the damned yaps on the station platform.  An’ after that I’m goin’ to hog-tie you an’—­Ah!”

Antrim’s exclamation was a mere gasp.  It escaped his lips as Lawler jumped backward, landing outside the door, overbalanced, trying to stand upright while he snapped a shot at Antrim.

Antrim, however, had reached for his gun.  It came out before Lawler could steady himself, and Lawler saw it.  Lawler saw the weapon belch smoke and fire as it cleared Antrim’s hip; he felt a shock as the bullet struck him; felt still another sear his flesh near the arm as he let his own pistol off.  He saw the outlaw plunge forward and fall prone, his arms outstretched.  He was motionless, inert.

From inside the cabin came the sounds of steps—­Antrim’s confederates, Lawler supposed.  He heard them approach the door and he leaped, swaying a little, toward the corner of the cabin nearest him.  He had reached it, had just dodged behind it, when Selden and Krell rushed out.  At the same instant Shorty thundered up, slipped out of the saddle and ran toward Lawler, drawing his guns.

Shorty had approached the cabin from the rear, having cut across the space behind the bunkhouses when he heard the shooting.  He could not be seen by Selden and Krell as they plunged out of the door; but he had seen Lawler when the latter dodged behind the corner of the cabin, and as he ran toward Lawler he drew his guns.

As yet Shorty had seen no one but Lawler.  He supposed Antrim and Lawler had exchanged shots and he knew Lawler had been hit—­his swaying as he came around the corner of the cabin proved it.  Knowing something of the terrible rage that had seized the man, he suspected Lawler had burst into the cabin, recklessly exposing himself to Antrim’s fire.

And as Shorty ran toward the spot where Lawler was standing, he expected to see Antrim follow, to complete his work.

Within a dozen feet of Lawler he halted, facing the corner.  He had not long to wait.  For Selden and Krell, guns in hand, appeared almost instantly—­their faces hideous with passion.  As they rushed around the corner they saw Shorty.  They saw Shorty first, because Shorty dominated the scene.  A gun in each hand, he made a terrible figure.  His eyes were blazing with the cold rage that had seized him at sight of Lawler, wounded—­for Lawler was now leaning against the wall of the cabin, and his gun had dropped from his hand.