She refused to go home, but leaned against the bars and wept. Jim Allen patted her head and otherwise showed acute embarrassment of a man who is being cried over publicly. The jailer stood close by and seemed to enjoy the spectacle. From somewhere outside the jail there came the report of two gunshots. The jailer turned and entered the office. The moment he was gone Mrs. Howes took a package from the fold of her skirt and passed it into Jim's hand. "Slivers is waiting with your horses in the lot back of the livery stable," she said in a cool, collected, voice. Then suddenly she began to cry again. "Oh, Jim--Jim Allen!" The jailer had returned. He placed a hand on her shoulder. "Come on out of here, ma'am," he ordered. "Yuh go on back to Pop. 'Tain't fit for you to take on like that!" Mrs. Howes allowed herself to be led from the cell door, still pretending to weep. The moment the two disappeared Jim Allen unrolled the package. It contained a Colt .45. He grinned to himself. "Who would have thought the ol' gal had that much spunk? Gee, she sure can act!" He threw himself on the bench in an attitude of abject despair. Minutes passed, precious minutes. At last Joe Elston returned. Jim's eyes searched the man, as he stood by the bars jeering at him. "Wolf, hell! You're a hell of a wolf--cryin' with old ladies!" Then his mouth dropped open and he took a step backward. "Yep, the 'Killer Wolf'!" Jim Allen snapped. "An' I'll sure drill yuh if yuh don't open that door pronto!" The jailer was only two steps from the door opening into the marshal's office. He had but to take one backward leap and he would be free. But he never took that leap--for there was a deadly warning in Jim Allen's eyes. And he knew the Wolf never missed. With hands that trembled so that he could scarcely find the keyhole, Joe Elston hastily unlocked the door. "She gave you--that gun?" he stammered. "Mebbe so. But if yuh ever say it, I'll come back an' cut your throat," said Allen quietly, as he forced the jailer into the cell. The very flatness of his voice convinced Elston that he would keep his promise. Allen locked the cell door, entered the office, and secured some rope. Then he returned and securely tied and gagged the jailer. "You stay put!" he warned. "I'm comin' back, an' if you've moved an inch, I'll sure fix yuh so yuh won't move no more." The diminutive outlaw secured his guns and holsters from a hook in the office, then slipped out of the jail and stood in the shadow while he glanced down the street. He took the precaution of locking the outer door and then trotted toward the livery stable. Slivers Hart was waiting for him in the rear. "So yuh made it?" "Good kid, sendin' the old lady," Jim praised. "Figgered she'd get to yuh, if anybody could. She tol' me she always got her way with Pop by cryin' real tears!" Slivers grinned.