There was no mercy in his voice, no hope in the expression of his face that confronted the boy. He stood before, and in the power of, Tom Terror, the Gulch Tiger. The boy judge was in a situation of imminent peril; not only this, but Myra, the waif, also stood before the deadly repeater which the Canyon Terror kept against his shoulder. “He says he has long wanted to catch me napping,” said Hal, to himself. “Is it for the Thugs I have strung up, or does he possess the secret that Rosebud Dan refused to divulge? I need not expect mercy at his hand; but Myra! What will the villain do with her?” The boy’s sentence was broken by a startling voice which did not fall from the Tiger’s tongue. On the contrary, it came up from below, and was followed by the furious galloping of a single horse. “Now for the big bonanza. Hurrah for the claim that hes but one big share.” Tom Terror, starting violently, lifted his head and listened to the tread of the unseen horse. “Fair play!” cried Hal, as he sprung forward with a drawn revolver. “Now, my good fellow, be so obliging as to fling your repeater over the wall. Quick! or there’ll be a riderless horse where you now sit.” The Gulch Tiger ground his teeth with rage, and roundly cursed the accident which had diverted his attention from his foe. “Throw it over!” continued the lyncher, sternly. “One--two--” Accompanied by a fierce brigandish oath, and the flashing of a pair of evil eyes, the carbine disappeared over the brink of the precipice, and the boy heard the sound of its arrival on the stony road far below. “That’s sensible; now the pistols.” Another savage oath, and two large revolvers, drawn sullenly from the Tiger’s belt, followed the repeating rifle. “They’ll hev a precious time hangin’ me,” thought Tom, as he shrugged his Atlantean shoulders and looked contemptuously at the youthful couple. “I hope they’ll try: I do so, by the eyes of the gods! Then my weapons will hev company down thar.” “I tell you I’m ready,” ejaculated the Canyon King as if becoming impatient. “If the court _always_ hangs, here’s the primest subject in Colorado. Call up the sheriff, jedge, an’ let the air-dance proceed.” The boy’s eyes wandered to the edge of the cliff. “I’m not prepared to hang at this moment. In fact you have caught me without a rope, Tom Terror. But perhaps there is one handy. I’ll send you after it.” “Me? Why, jedge, I might forget to come back.” “I’ll attend to that,” answered the boy. “Go to the edge of the wall where yon rock lies, and look over. If I am not mistaken, you’ll see the gallows that I have used on two occasions.” “The timber in the wall, eh?” “Yes; you’ve seen it?” “Do you think you could climb down to it to-night, cut the subject loose that hangs from it, and bring the rope up?” For the first time Tom Terror showed signs of weakness. “I never tried to go down a perpendicular wall, smooth as glass--”