"But only four of us will do the searching," returned Higgins. "The others 'll wait outside to see that Jesse and his pals don't skip out." "How can he, when he isn't here?" retorted Mrs. Prior, stepping back to admit Jones, Dillaby and two other man-hunters, who made no reply. Once inside the kitchen, however, the former said: "And now if you'll give us lanterns, we'll begin." "Well, we _won't_," snarled the woman. "You'll have to get along as best you can and what's more you can't go through my house alone, either. Ephraim, you and Jeff take your shot guns and follow 'em. If you see 'em steal anything, shoot 'em. I've heard of robbers trying such tricks to get into a house before." Realizing, that further protest would be of no avail, though the words stung, the detectives started on their quest followed by the farmer and his son with their guns. But as Jones placed his hand on the latch leading into the hall there sounded a stifled cough! CHAPTER X. THE DASH FOR LIBERTY. With a look of gloating, Jones turned toward Mrs. Prior, his lips parted to speak. Yet he uttered no sound. Every member of the Prior family was grinning. Why, none of them could have told had their lives depended on it. Possibly their very anxiety was the cause. But whatever produced the emotion, its effect upon the detectives was instantaneous. "That was a signal," hissed one of them. "Be careful about opening the door; our men may be ambushing us." The idea of an ambuscade inside a house was novel, yet the suggestion appealed to the man-hunters and their leader determined to take no risks. "Some of you, who know the way, go first," commanded Jones. "Don't you do it," retorted Mrs. Prior. "It's an outrage to search this house, anyway, but if these men insist, let 'em go where they please and then they can't say we didn't give 'em a free hand." Realizing the woman was a Tartar, the man in charge of the searching party turned to his fellows. "Have your guns ready. These people evidently intend to do all they can to block us, but we'll show 'em we can find Jesse James without their help and in spite of them. "If you hear any suspicious noise, shoot. The cut-throats won't hesitate to kill us in their efforts to escape!" The bitterness with which Jones snapped out his words was apparently lost on the friends of the outlaws, for they made no response, but in their hearts they made silent vows that if they could do anything to prevent the discovery of the world-famous desperadoes they would. And with sullen, defiant looks they watched the four men. In evident fear that his appearance in the doorway would be greeted with a rain of bullets, Jones lifted the latch and pulled open the door, jumping back as he did so. As no sign of the bandits was disclosed, the man-hunters took courage and rushed into the parlour with Jeff and Farmer Prior, shot-guns in their hands, at their heels.