e, and flung it out of the door.

But, as he dropped his right defense, taking both hands to the gun, the
outlaw's powerful left grip closed on Merryfield's throat with a
strangle-hold.

With that great thumb closing his windpipe, with the world turning red
and black, "Guess I can't put it over, after all!" the Trooper said to
himself.

Reaching for his own revolver, he shoved the muzzle against the bandit's
breast.

"Damn you, _shoot_!" cried the other, believing his end was come.

But in that same instant Merryfield once more caught a glimpse of the
fear-stricken faces of the babies, huddled together beyond.

"Hallisey and Smith must be here soon," he thought. "I won't shoot yet."

Again he dropped his revolver back into the holster, seizing the wrist
of the outlaw to release that terrible clamp on his throat. As he did
so, Drake with a lightning twist, reached around to the Trooper's belt
and possessed himself of the gun. As he fired Merryfield had barely time
and space to throw back his head. The flash blinded him--scorched his
face hairless. The bullet grooved his body under the upflung arm still
wrenching at the clutch that was shutting off his breath.

Perhaps, with the shot, the outlaw insensibly somewhat relaxed that
choking arm. Merryfield tore loose. Half-blinded and gasping though he
was, he flung himself again at his adversary and landed a blow in his
face. Drake, giving backward, kicked over a row of peach jars, slipped
on the slimy stream that poured over the bare floor, and dropped the
gun.

Pursuing his advantage, Merryfield delivered blow after blow on the
outlaw's face and body, backing him around the room, while both men
slipped and slid, fell and recovered, on the jam-coated floor. The table
crashed over, carrying with it the solitary lamp, whose flame died
harmlessly, smothered in tepid mush. Now only the moonlight illuminated
the scene.

Drake was manoeuvring always to recover the gun. His hand touched the
back of a chair. He picked the chair up, swung it high, and was about to
smash it down on his adversary's head when Merryfield seized it in the
air.

At this moment the woman, who had been crouching against the wall
nursing the rifle that her husband had put into her charge, rushed
forward clutching the barrel of the gun, swung it at full arm's length
as she would have swung an axe, and brought the stock down on the
Trooper's right hand.

That vital hand dropped--fractured, done.