“No you won’t,” said the sheriff defiantly. “I said the man wasn’t here. I say it ag’in. You couldn’t have him if he was, an’ you can’t come in my house! Now if you people don’t want trouble you’d better go on away.”
“He’s down in the cellar!” yelled another.
“Why don’t you let us see?” asked another.
Mathews waved his gun slightly.
“You’d better go away from here now,” cautioned the sheriff. “I’m tellin’ ye! I’ll have warrants out for the lot o’ ye, if ye don’t mind!”
The crowd continued to simmer and stew, while Jake stood as before. He was very pale and tense, but lacked initiative.
“He won’t shoot,” called some one at the back of the crowd. “Why don’t you go in, Jake, an’ git him?”
“Sure! Rush in. That’s it!” observed a second.
“He won’t, eh?” replied the sheriff softly. Then he added in a lower tone, “The first man that comes inside that gate takes the consequences.”
No one ventured inside the gate; many even fell back. It seemed as if the planned assault had come to nothing.