The spectators looked at it with the utmost consternation depicted on their countenances, and Mr. Stebbins, uttering a cry of alarm, started up his horse, from which he had never once dismounted, and almost ran over Bob and George in his eagerness to get out of harm’s way.
There is no doubt, whatever, that Wallace intended to use the weapon he had so unexpectedly produced; but fortunately for himself and all concerned, he had to deal with men who were not easily intimidated, and who did not allow their astonishment to prevent them from acting quickly and promptly.
Before Wallace could think twice, the revolver was wrenched from his grasp, and the broad-shouldered Steve, rushing upon him from behind, clasped him around the arms, pinning them securely to his side.
A moment later there were two ominous “clicks,” and when Steve, in obedience to a sign from the officer, released his hold upon the captive, the latter was powerless, his wrists being encircled by a pair of hand-cuffs.
“This is the most extraordinary thing I ever heard of. I don’t understand it at all,” said the sheriff.
And the reason he did not understand it was because he had not yet gone to the bottom of the matter. He knew more about it before two days more had passed over his head.
“Forbes,” shouted Wallace, after he had made several desperate but unsuccessful attempts to pull off the hand-cuffs, “where’s your gun? Why do you stand there looking instead of helping me?”
This question very naturally suggested the idea that possibly the youth appealed to have something dangerous about him, and two or three of the party at once moved toward him, with the intention of satisfying themselves on that point.
But Forbes did not wait to be searched. The ease with which his companion had been conquered took all the courage out of him, and he handed out his “gun”—a nickel-plated revolver—before he was asked for it.
The sheriff put it into his pocket, to keep company with the one he had taken from Wallace, and then went back to the front of the cabin to hear the rest of Benson’s confession, leaving two prisoners instead of one in Steve’s charge.