“Mebbe I did. I hope so. I told him he couldn’t have that gun ’cause I had to have it my own self, and that made him shut up. But he wouldn’t promise to stay where he was—he wouldn’t say yes or no or nothin’. And he’s so bull-headed when he gits his mind set, he might—— Well, I’m a-goin’. G’by.”
As she turned doorward, he stopped her with a swiftly formed decision.
“Just a minute more, Marion. I’m going with you, as I said before; and I’m going to stay. My job to-night is going to be standing guard at your house. Then you and your mother can get a good sound sleep. It isn’t Steve I’m thinking about—it’s Snake. If he intends to call on anybody to-night it’s more likely to be on you than on me. So if you don’t mind my sitting on your steps——”
The sentence never was finished. Nor was the plan ever carried out.
As Douglas turned to step toward his hat, coat, and gun, the front door jumped inward.
Snake Sanders, shotgun leveled at his hip, evil face aflame, stood in the room.
CHAPTER XXVII
TRAPPED
Swift and sudden as was the appearance of that murderous figure, it was little quicker than the movements of Douglas and Marion.
For one fleeting second the pair stood as if petrified. For the same time Snake halted as if blinded. Coming from the outer dark, he had sprung straight into the brightest beam of the gas-lamp, which happened to be centered on the doorway. The shock to his optic nerves was too great to be overcome at once even by the instinctive narrowing of his lids. He wavered aside, trying to dodge the sight-searing ray without taking his gaze from the man he hated and the girl he coveted.
Simultaneously the trapped pair leaped.