To appreciate Ben’s position, it must be remembered that he was in a country where murder was the common recreation of a large number of the inhabitants. More than this, he carried with him wherever he went large sums of money, amounting often to three or four thousand dollars. This fact was well known to the desperate classes who infested the region, and tended to make Hogan an especially tempting subject for their villainies.
FIGHT BETWEEN HOGAN AND DONNELLY NEAR FORT ERIE.
“Halt!” came in a threatening voice from one of the bandits.
Ben halted.
“Hand over your money without kicking, and you are all right. Make any show of resistance, and you drop where you stand!”
Ben had no idea of handing over his money, and still less of dropping where he stood. He took in the position in an instant. He was in the hands of desperadoes who were fully prepared to put a bullet through his heart if the occasion demanded it. One man against three made force out of the question. He must save himself, if at all, by strategy. His ready wit and perfect self-possession stood him in good stead at that perilous moment.
“Gentlemen,” said he, quietly, and without the slightest indication of fear, “you have got on to the wrong track this time. I haven’t money enough with me to buy drinks for the crowd. But look here. If you want to make a raise, I can tell you how to do it. Do you hear that sound of carriage wheels?”
Indistinctly in the distance could be distinguished the rumbling of an approaching vehicle.
“Yes,” said one of the robbers, “we hear it, but what’s that to us?”