"Slide out here, Gaspar. They's some gents here that wants to look you over."
The voice that answered him was pitched so low as to be almost unintelligible. "What do they want?"
"Step lively, friend! They want to see a gent that lets a woman do his fighting for him."
He had dropped his gun contemptuously back into its holster. Now he waved the schoolteacher to the door with his bare hands.
Gaspar sidled past as if a loaded gun were about to explode in his direction. He reached the door, his arms still held stiffly above his head, but, at the sight of the masked faces, one arm dropped to his side, and the other fell across his face. He slumped against the side of the door with a moan.
It was Judge Lodge who broke the silence. "Guilty, boys. Ain't one look at the skunk enough to prove it?"
"Make it all fair and legal, gents," broke in Larsen.
Buck Mason strode straight up to the prisoner.
"Was you over to Quade's house yesterday evening?"
The other shrank away from the extended, pointing arm.