from Pete's forehead. He stared up at her, his
face white and expressionless. "It was the coat--my hand caught," he
murmured.

She nodded brightly, as though she understood. She did not know what
his name was. There had been nothing by which to identify him. And
she could hardly believe that this youth, lying there under that black
shadow that she thought never would lift again, could be the desperate
character the interne made him out to be, retailing the newspaper
account of his capture to her.

It was understood, even before the doctor had examined Pete, that he
could not live long. The police surgeon had done what he could. Pete
had been removed to the General Hospital, as the Emergency was crowded.

The little nurse was wondering if he had any relatives, any one for
whom he wished to send. Surely he must realize that he was dying! She
was gazing at Pete when his eyes slowly opened and the faintest trace
of a smile touched his lips. His eyes begged so piteously that she
stepped close to the cot and stooped. She saw that he wanted to ask
her something, or tell her something that was worrying him. "What did
it matter?" she thought. At any moment he might drift into
unconsciousness . . .

"Would you--write--to The Spider--and say I delivered the--goods?"

"But who is he--where--"

"Jim Ewell, Showdown--over in--Arizona."

"Jim Ewell, Showdown, Arizona." she repeated. "And what name shall I
sign?"

"Jest Pete," he whispered, and his eyes closed.

Pete's case puzzled Andover, the head-surgeon at, the General. It was
the third day since Pete's arrival and he was alive--but just alive and
that was all. One peculiar feature of the case was the fact that the
bullet--a thirty-eight--which had pierced the right lung, had not gone
entirely through the body. Andover, experienced in gun-shot wounds,
knew that bullets fired at close range often did freakish things.
There had been a man recently discharged from the General as
convalescent, who had been shot in the shoulder, and the bullet,
striking the collar-bone, had taken a curious tangent, following up the
muscle of the neck and lodging just beneath the ear. In that case
there had been the external evidence of the bullet's location. In this
case there was no such evidence to go by.

The afternoon of the third day, Pete was taken to the operating room
and another examination made. The X-ray showed a curious blur near the
right side of the spin