All remonstrance squelched by his statement, his two companions wriggled through the small aperture, Jesse followed and Marjorie refastened the door. By the aid of matches, the desperadoes were able to make their way among the redolent hams to the corners farthest from the stairs. But the smoke coming through the bricks from the flue of the kitchen stove and the fumes were powerful. "If we have to stay here long, we'll suffocate," growled Cole. "Shut up! We've got to stand it. Don't move 'round," snapped his leader, and, resigning themselves to the ordeal, they subsided into silence. All this time, down in the yard, Mrs. Prior and the others had been sparring for time, and it was with relief they beheld Marjorie rejoin them, for her coming told that the outlaws were hidden. Grasping the purpose of Jesse's instructions, the wife of the farmer had opened the door, demanding of her bewildered husband: "What's the trouble, Ephraim? What are those men running for?" "We want the men who rode those horses here," panted Higgins as he reached the animals. "What men?" protested Mrs. Prior. "Tell 'em they must have made a mistake, Ephraim. When they know you bought the critturs from those miners down at the train they'll come to their senses, maybe." The effort to give the farmer his cue was futile. Looking at his wife as though he thought she had gone crazy, Ephraim Prior said nothing. But Higgins was not so dull. Divining that the words had been inspired by the man they sought, his doubt as to who 'Howard' was vanished instantly and he coolly retorted: "If your husband were as clever as you, Mrs. Prior, your bluff might have worked. But he isn't, so you might as well let us search your house. "_We know Jesse James is inside it and we're going to find him!_" Feigning amazement at the declaration, the woman brought all her resourcefulness to bear to gain time till her daughter's return should announce that the outlaws were concealed, demanding his grounds for his suspicions and pronouncing it an outrage that Susie could not make a visit without being suspected of coming to meet her wicked brothers. But her persistency only confirmed the detectives' belief that their quarry was scurrying to cover in the house. With a clever change in tactics, Jones purred: "Why don't you let us search the house, Mrs. Prior, and satisfy ourselves? We don't like to doubt your assertion that the notorious cut-throat isn't here, but Jesse has so many friends who are willing to swear that black is white for his sake that our doubt is only natural. But if we are wrong, we'll apologize and humbly." As the suggestion she had dreaded was put into words, Mrs. Prior turned to look into the kitchen, just as Marjorie entered it. The sight causing her untold relief, the woman responded: "I suppose that _would_ be the quickest way to get rid of you, though I must say I don't think much of having eight strange men ransacking my house."