“Here they come!” he said softly. “The whole —— works!”
Hashknife looked around quickly.
“Got a cellar, Skelton?”
“—— right I have!”
Skelton hopped across the floor and lifted his table away from a trap-door. This he raised.
“Git down in there, Lonesome,” ordered Hashknife, “and don’t make a noise; sabe? Don’t ask questions!”
Lonesome went down the short ladder, and the trap was closed and covered with the table, just as a crowd of men, led by Jake Blue, rode up to the front door.
Hashknife and Sleepy had closed the door as they came in, and now Skelton slipped the bar into place and picked up his shotgun.
“Come on,” whispered Hashknife. “We’ll go out the back window, Sleepy. Don’t make any resistance, Skelton. Put down the shotgun and act natural.”
He and Sleepy slid out the back window, and shut it behind them, just as some one knocked loudly on the front door.