hing eyes. "Don't get on
the peck, Em. You got no business coverin' me with that gun. I know you
got reasons a-plenty for tryin' to bluff us into sayin' we held up the
stage. But we don't bluff worth a cent. See?"

Crawford saw. He had failed to surprise a confession out of Miller by the
narrowest of margins. If he had had time to get Shorty out of the room
before the convict's appearance, the fellow would have come through. As
it was, he had missed his opportunity.

A head followed by a round barrel body came in cautiously from the
lean-to at the rear.

"Everything all right, Mr. Crawford? Thought I'd drap on down to see if
you didn't need any help."

"None, thanks, Mr. Thomas," the cattleman answered dryly.

"Well, you never can tell." The prospector nodded genially to Shorty,
then spoke again to the man with the rifle. "Found any clue to the
hold-up yet?"

"We've found the men who did it," replied Crawford.

"Knew 'em all the time, I reckon," scoffed Shorty with a harsh laugh.

Dave drew his chief aside, still keeping a vigilant eye on the prisoners.
"We've got to play our hand different. Shorty is game. He can't be
bluffed. But Miller can. I found out years ago he squeals at physical
pain. We'll start for home. After a while we'll give Shorty a chance to
make a getaway. Then we'll turn the screws on Miller."

"All right, Dave. You run it. I'll back yore play," his friend said.

They disarmed Miller, made him saddle two of the horses in the corral,
and took the back trail across the valley to the divide. It was here they
gave Shorty his chance of escape. Miller was leading the way up the
trail, with Crawford, Thomas, Shorty, and Dave in the order named. Dave
rode forward to confer with the owner of the D Bar Lazy R. For three
seconds his back was turned to the squat cowpuncher.

Shorty whirled his horse and flung it wildly down the precipitous slope.
Sanders galloped after him, fired his revolver three times, and after a
short chase gave up the pursuit. He rode back t

Martha Finley (1828 - 1909) was a teacher and author of numerous works, the most well known being the 28 volume Elsie Dinsmore series which was published over a span of 38 years. The daughter of Presbyterian minister Dr. James Brown Finley and his wife and cousin Maria Theresa Brown Finley, she was born on April 26th, 1828 in Chillicothe, Ohio. Finley wrote many of her books under the psodonym Martha Farquharson. She died in 1909 in Elkton, Maryland, where she moved in 1876.

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