chalet. Don't be misled by the
fact that you outnumber me six to one. I hold a magazine rifle, possess
an ample supply of ammunition, and have just given evidence of the
rapidity with which reloading can be performed."

"Yes," said Dean, meditatively, "your position would be bull strong and
hog tight, if you had a chum with you who could shoot as well as you do.
But as it is, you've nobody to relieve you, and a man must sleep. It
will only take one of us to defeat you. We've no magazine rifles and
don't need none. I'll undertake the job myself."

"How do you propose to do it?"

"That would be telling," said Jim, craftily.

"Why not?" answered Stranleigh. "I'm placing my cards on the table. Why
don't you do the same? I'm not yearning for war and bloodshed, but have
inaugurated a sort of Hague tribunal. There were two things I determined
to accomplish when I broke jail. I hope that wounded ear hasn't impaired
your hearing, so that you may listen with attention. It's always as well
to know what your enemy desires."

"I'm listening," said Jim.

"The first thing was to shoot you through the leg or the arm or the ear,
choosing some spot that was not vital. This in return for your shooting
me. One good turn deserves another, you know. That part of my programme
I have accomplished."

"What's the other part?"

"The second is to keep you gentlemen in prison just as long as you kept
me in prison. One good imprisonment deserves another. Now will you tell
me what you intend to do?"

"No; I won't."

"That's mean of you, Jim; secretive, over-cautious and that sort of
thing. I'm not so chary and so will give you the information. There are
only two portions of the night during which you can come out unnoticed;
before the moon rises and after it sets. You will steal out and take up
a position where you can see the barricade when day begins to dawn.
You'll need to chose a spot a long way off, because the explosion, when
it comes, will wreck everything in the neighbourhood."

"What explosion?"

"The dynamite explosion. This wall is built of rock intersticed with
those dynamite cartridges of yours. It is very likely you will
obliterate the farm-house."

"I'll obliterate you, anyway."

"Quite so, but at a tremendous cost, because whatever the fate of Mr.
Armstrong's residence, the doom of the bunk house is certain. You may be
outside that danger, but you won't be free of another. You suppose,
doubtless, that I shall be asl