Hal realized that he was in grave danger and struggled fiercely to free his hands. But his adversary was a very powerful woman, and having gained a secure hold, Hal was unable to free himself.
The woman who had been left to guard Chester, at the command of the other, ran to her aid. Chester, holding to the back of the chair, drew himself to his feet and staggered after her, still clinging to his broken sword.
As the woman stooped to pick up the revolver dropped by the other when Hal’s bullet had struck her hand, Chester, in spite of the pain of his wounds, leaped forward. As she arose to her feet and would have fired point-blank at Hal, he knocked the weapon from her hand with a sharp blow of his broken sword.
Then coming quickly to Hal’s side he took the lad’s revolver from him, and, stepping back, aimed it at the head of the woman with whom his friend was struggling.
“Release him instantly,” he ordered, “or I shall fire!”
The woman glanced at him over her shoulder, and smiled tauntingly.
“You wouldn’t shoot a woman,” she sneered.
“I wouldn’t like to,” replied Chester, “but if you have not released him and if both of you do not line up against that wall with your hands in the air by the time I count three, I will shoot, just as surely as I stand here. One, two—”
The woman glanced at him. Her eyes must have told her that the lad meant what he said, for, releasing Hal, she stepped quickly back and raised her hands in the air. The second woman followed her example. Chester stepped to Hal’s side, and extended the revolver to him.
“Take this quick!” he commanded.