ice and made them bring water and cloth. Then she cleansed and
bandaged the wound in Andy Lewis' arm and had some of them take him
away.

By this time the outskirts of the crowd had melted away; but those who
had really seen all parts of the little drama remained to talk. The
subject was a real one. Had Donnegan aimed at the hand of Andy and
risked his own life on his ability to disable the other without killing
him? Or had he fired at Lewis' body and struck the hand and arm only by
a random lucky chance?

If the second were the case, he was only a fair shot with plenty of
nerve and a great deal of luck. If the first were true, then this was a
nerve of ice-tempered steel, an eye vulture-sharp, and a hand,
miraculous, fast, and certain. To strike that swinging hand with a snap
shot, when a miss meant a bullet fired at his own body at deadly short
range--truly it would take a credulous man to believe that Donnegan had
coldly planned to disable his man without killing him.

"A murderer by intention," exclaimed Milligan. He had hunted long and
hard before he found a man with a face like that of Lewis, capable of
maintaining order by a glance; now he wanted revenge. "A murder by
intention!" he cried to the crowd, standing beside the place where the
imprint of Andy's knees was still in the sand. "And like a murderer he
ought to be treated. He aimed to kill Andy; he had luck and only broke
his hand. Now, boys, I say it ain't so much what he's done as the way
he's done it. He's given us the laugh. He's come in here in his dude
clothes and tried to walk over us. But it don't work. Not in The Corner.
If Andy was dead, I'd say lynch the dude. But he ain't, and all I say
is: Run him out of town."

Here there was a brief outburst of applause, but when it ended, it was
observed that there was a low, soft laughter. The crowd gave way between
Milligan and the mocker. It was seen that he who laughed was old Lebrun,
rubbing his olive-skinned hands together and showing his teeth in his
mirth. There was no love lost between Lebrun and Milligan, even if Nelly
was often in the dance hall and the center of its merriment.

"It takes a thief to catch a thief," said Lebrun enigmatically, when he
saw that he had the ear of the crowd, "and it takes a man to catch a
man."

"What the devil do you mean by that?" a dozen voices asked.

"I mean, that if you got men enough to run out this man Donnegan, The
Corner is a better town than I think."