got--he did ask
me to write to some one--the first day--a Jim Ewell, in Arizona. He
asked me to say he had 'delivered the goods.' I don't know that I
should have done it without reporting it, but--well, you said he
couldn't live--"

"Some outlaw pal of his, probably," said Andover, frowning. "But that
has nothing to do with his--er--condition right now."

"And sometimes he talks when he is half-conscious, and he often speaks
to some one he calls 'The Spider,'" asserted Doris.

"Queer affair. Well, I'll think about it. If we do operate, I'll want
you--"

The surgeon was interrupted by a nurse who told him there was a man who
wanted to see Peter Annersley: that the man was insistent. The
head-nurse was having supper, and should the caller be allowed in after
visiting hours?

"Send him in," said the surgeon, and he stepped into the
superintendent's office. Almost immediately The Spider sidled across
the hallway and entered the room. The surgeon saw a short, shriveled,
bow-legged man, inconspicuously dressed save for his black Stetson and
the riding-boots which showed below the bottom of his trousers. The
Spider's black beady eyes burned in his weather-beaten and scarred
face--"the eyes of a hunted man"--thought the surgeon. In a peculiar,
high-pitched voice, he asked Andover if he were the doctor in charge.

"I'm Andover, head-surgeon," said the other. "Won't you sit down?"

The other glanced round. Andover got up and closed the door. "You
wish to see young Annersley, I understand."

"You looking after him?"

Andover nodded.

"Is he hurt pretty bad?"

"Yes. I doubt if he will recover."

"Can I see him?"

"Well,"--and the surgeon hesitated,--"it's after hours. But I don't
suppose it will do any harm. You are a friend of his?"

"About the only one, I reckon."

"Well--I'll step in with you. He may be asleep. If he is--"

"I won't bother him."

The nurse met them, and put her finger to her lips. Andover nodded and
stepped aside as The Spider hobbled to the cot and gazed silently at
Pete's white face. Then The Spider turned abruptly and hobbled down
the aisle, followed by Andover. "Come in here," said the surgeon as
The Spider hesitated.

Andover told him briefly that there was one chance in a thousand of
Pete's recovery; that the shock had been terrific, describing just
where the bullet was lodged and its effect upon the sensory nerves.
Andover was somewhat surprised to find that t