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.

"Mein lieber Gott, helb has gome already yet," she exclaimed.

They hardly seemed to comprehend in their relief that one man had to
deal with a dozen or more.

"Who are you?" demanded Lupo, roughly, coming to the top of the stairs.

"My name is Hook, at your service. May I ask if you are giving a
performance of private theatricals? The scene is a good deal like a band
of highwaymen attacking a number of helpless women."

"We're in the rights of the law," put in the innkeeper.

"Why wear masks then?" asked Richard Hook.

There was no answer to this pointed question and three of the maskers
slun