"Are you referring to your estimable dad?" inquired Mr. Squires from the rocking-chair. "Yes, I am," said Elfaretta somewhat defiantly. "Is he a little more vicious than usual tonight?" asked the reporter. "He never was worse," said the girl. "He's just simply awful. I had to come out to see if I couldn't get Mr. Crow to come up to the house an'--an' settle him. He seen me just as I was going out the door, and took after me. Out by the front gate he slipped on the ice and set down like a ton of bricks. Oh, I never heard such cussing. You got to come up to the house right away, Mr. Crow. He's just terrible. He--" "Hold on a minute," interrupted the Marshal. "Go slow, now, an' answer my questions. Is he--" "He's throwing things around something awful. Ma's in the pantry with the door locked, and Juliet's hiding up in the--" "I know all that," broke in Mr. Crow sharply. "You needn't tell me about that. What I want to know is, is he or is he not in his own house, under his own roof?" "He is, unless he's still setting out there in the front yard--or follerin' after me," she concluded with a terrified look at the barricaded door. "Do you think that barrel's heavy enough to stop him?" "Well, if he's inside his own house, I can't touch him without a warrant. You'll have to go an' swear out a search-warrant for him, Elfarettie. It's against the law for me to arrest--" "But ain't it against the law for him to be trying to murder Ma and Juliet and me?" "There ain't no use arguing about it. I can't go an' get him without a warrant." "You won't have to go in," said she confidently. "All you got to do is to let him know you're outside--anywheres--looking for him, and he'll come out; and he'll come without a warrant--you can bet your life on that, Mr. Crow. He says he's getting awful sick of having nothing to lick but women. He--" "Did he say that?" demanded Marshal Crow, frowning and pulling at his whiskers. "He put in some extra words, but I can't say 'em," said Elfaretta. "I've a notion to--to--" began the Marshal in a somewhat bellicose manner, and then sadly shook his head. "No, it wouldn't be legal. I'm an officer of the law. But let me tell you one thing, Elfaretta Fry, if I _wasn't_ an officer of the law, I'd take your dad by the back of the neck and shake him till his shoes flew off." "We're getting away from the main issue," broke in Mr. Squires, the gadfly. "The point is, Anderson, are you going to let Vicious Lucius beat his family to death, or are you going up to the Gully and arrest him?" The Marshal looked at Harry reproachfully. "You know I ain't empowered by law to enter a man's house without a warrant, Harry Squires." "But the girl says you won't have to. She says her father will be only too glad to step outside."