The chair, a cot, table, and some books were all that there was in the room to add to his comfort.
The face of the man, though pale, was not despairing, and upon it rested no look of anxiety, though but too well he knew that there was no help for him; that he was doomed to die upon the gallows.
Dressed in border costume, clean-shaven, and neat in appearance, he looked almost contented with his lot.
The prisoner was the outlaw chief, Silk Lasso Sam, he who held up the coach and killed the driver and a passenger, afterward playing his game so boldly as Austin Marvin, and being received into the fort with every hospitality, until he could kidnap, with the aid of his band, Miss Clarice Carr, to hold until she paid a large ransom for her release.
There were others of his band in the fort as prisoners, but these were kept apart, as the outlaw chief had asked to be alone. He had faced his accusers at the trial without flinching, had not quailed under the gaze of those whom he had wronged, and had appeared really interested in the testimony given by Miss Carr as to what he had done after their being captured by the men of his band.
When he arose to receive the sentence of the military tribunal, he did not show the slightest sign of emotion, and some said that he even smiled serenely when the judge-advocate told him that his doom was to be death upon the gallows.
From his position the prisoner was watching through his cabin door the sun nearing the horizon. Suddenly he started, for he saw an officer and a lady approaching his prison.
They drew nearer, the sentinel halted, faced them, and came to a present, as the officer of the day said:
“Sentinel, you are to permit this lady to enter the cabin to visit the prisoner, and you are to walk your beat thirty paces from the cabin.”
The door opened then to admit the lady, as the officer walked away, and the sentinel stepped off his thirty paces, so as to be out of hearing of what was said.