Canada, Western -- Fiction; Farm life -- Canada -- Fiction; Married people -- Fiction
"Let him up!" said the last arrival; and when he rose shakily, his
assailant jerked one arm behind him.
"Walk right into the shanty before you get hurt," he said.
Gallwey did it, since there was apparently no other course open to him.
The way the man held his arm was excruciatingly painful. Somebody struck
a sulphur match, and, lighting a lantern, held it up. It showed two more
men, busily engaged in holding Trooper Standish, who kicked and
struggled valiantly on the floor. Then the third man laid down the
lantern, and, taking up a rifle, prodded the trooper with the butt of
it. It was no gentle, perfunctory prodding.
"Let up and lie still before you're made. You're going to get it hard if
you move again," he said, and turned to Gallwey. "Sit right down
yonder."
Gallwey, who fancied that his expostulations would not be listened to,
did as he was bidden. His holster was buttoned down still, and he did
not think he could get it open without attracting undesirable attention.
Presently one of the men unclasped the belt it was fastened to and flung
it aside, while Gallwey, recognising that a conciliatory attitude was
advisable, nearly laughed as he looked at Trooper Standish. The lad
still lay flat upon the earthen floor, flushed in face, and hurled a
stream of vitriolic compliments at his captors. One of them grinned
broadly, but did not move his hands from the trooper's arms.
"Now," he said, "if one of you will pass me that pack-rope we'll tie him
up."
It took two of them to accomplish it. During the operation, Trooper
Standish contrived to kick one of them where it seemed to hurt. Still,
they did tie him, and the lad lay still, breathless with fury, with
wrists bound behind him, his ankles lashed together. Then the men turned
to Gallwey.
"I guess your hands will be enough. Hold them out!" said one.
Gallwey did it without protesting, which, it was evident, would be of
very little use. While one of the men went out of the hut, another
watched him.
"Nobody's going to hurt you if you sit quite still," he said.
Gallwey sat flat on the floor, a position far from comfortable, while
Standish, who now lay with his head turned from him, did not move at
all. Then another man went out, leaving only one, who stood on guard
with nothing in his hand. In spite of certain notions, there are, after
all, very few pistols to be seen in the West, and though a good many men
have rifles they keep them because game is plentiful. It was, perhaps,
ten minutes later when a beat of hoofs grew louder down the coulee,
until, though the door was shut, Gallwey could hear what seemed to be a
line of loaded pack-animals going by. He glanced at his jailer, who
smiled sardonically.
"I guess you're not quite smart enough to play this game," he said.
"You're from Prospect, aren't you?"
Gallwey said he was a servant of Leland's.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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