"Ladies, I'd advise you to give up the prisoners," called Lupo, addressing the darkness. "We ain't goner touch none of you, but we wants them two furriners right away." "Git some torches," ordered the innkeeper, who seemed really to be the boldest man in the lot. Several men disappeared and in a moment returned with pitch torches which cast a lurid, flickering light through the room. It was a weird scene, looking down from the gallery. All of the men wore masks except Lupo and the innkeeper, who were boldly undisguised. They peered about the room. Suddenly Lupo's eye caught a corner of the staircase at the far end. "They're upstairs. Come on, men," he called. Billie raised the shotgun to her shoulder. "I'll shoot the old thing off this time if it flies to pieces," she said, and pulled the trigger with all her might. "Bang!" went the gun, and down she sat very hard, not knowing where she had aimed. There was a great confusion of voices below and she thought she heard someone cry out with pain. "Could I have shot anyone?" she asked herself tremulously as she picked herself up from the floor. Her shoulder ached and her finger was bruised, but she put the gun into position again. "I'll shoot any man who comes up those steps," she called. The outlaws had gathered under the gallery now, holding their torches high and gazing with some curiosity at the women grouped above them. Miss Campbell stood with her arm around Phoebe's waist. Elinor and Mary were still at the window. Nancy was with Billie, and Alberdina crouched behind the barricade. Lupo fell back angrily. "I guess you ain't got but one load in your old shotgun," he called. "Come on, men. We'll make a run for it." Billie turned the gun straight on him. She felt almost more afraid of the unwieldy thing than she did of the man himself. "If it jumps again," she thought, "it'll break my shoulder. And it's so undignified to have to sit down every time I shoot it off." The innkeeper made a leap for the steps and Lupo followed him. Billie ran to the other end of the gallery so as to get a better aim, and pulled at the trigger. The trunks were swaying and Alberdina had rushed from behind them. "Oh, Nancy, I can't make it go off," Billie sobbed under her breath. "Give it to me," whispered Nancy, seizing the gun and leveling it with trembling hands at Lupo. "Look out, Lupo," called a man below, as the barricade went down with a crash. But Lupo was in no mood to listen to warnings. Bounding over a fallen trunk, he wrenched the gun from Nancy's hand. At this moment, a man walked into the room and marched straight up to the group of mountaineers. "I beg your pardon, gentlemen," he said in a voice loud enough to be heard by everybody, "is this Sunrise Camp?" CHAPTER XVII. THE FORCE OF ELOQUENCE. Phoebe gazed at the newcomer as if she were seeing a visitor from heaven. All the women in the gallery experienced enormous sensations of relief and Alberdina smiled down at him broadly.