"Don't be foolish, Jake. We've got you sure," he called.
He moved a pace nearer, and Winthrop leaned forward a little farther over the pot-hole.
"See what this is?" he inquired, glancing down at the object in his hand.
"It's not a gun, anyway," said the trooper to his superior.
"It's a stick of giant-powder. There's a detonator in it and an inch or two of fuse. As soon as you're inside the door I drop it in the stove."
Slaney promptly recoiled a yard or two. Having had some experience in dealing with men driven to extremities, he knew that Winthrop's warning was not empty bluff. There was something in the man's voice that convinced him that he meant what he said. For the next few moments he and the trooper stood irresolutely still, wondering what they should do, while the motionless figure quietly watched them through the doorway. The corporal was by no means timid or overcautious, and had Winthrop held a pistol it is highly probable that he would have attempted to rush him. Except in the hands of a master of it, the short-barreled weapon is singularly unreliable, and shots fired by a man disturbed by fear or anger as a rule go wide; but the stick of dynamite meant certain death. Slaney had not the nerve to face that, and, besides, as he rightfully reflected, it would serve no purpose except to nip in the bud the career of a promising police officer. Then Winthrop spoke again.
"You'll have to haul off this time, Corporal. Letting this thing drop is quicker than shooting, even if you had me covered."
"We could plug you from a distance through the shack," Slaney pointed out.
"That's so," Winthrop assented calmly; "I guess you could; but I'm not sure your bosses would thank you for doing it."
There was, as the corporal recognized, some truth in this. The police would be held blameless for shooting down a fugitive who refused to surrender, but after all the exploit would not count to their credit unless the man were a desperado guilty of some particularly serious offense. It was their business to capture the person for whom they had a warrant.