They flung rapidly two or
three bullets through the roof, and under cover of the smoke
slipped out into the night. A moment later came the thud of
galloping horses, more shots, and, when the patter of hoofs had
died away--silence.
The sheriff was the first to break it. He thrust his brown hands
deep into his pockets and laughed--laughed with the joyous,
rollicking abandon of a tickled schoolboy.
"Hysterics?" ventured the mining engineer sympathetically.
Collins wiped his eyes. "Call 'em anything you like. What pleases
me is that the reverend gentleman should have had this diverting
experience so prompt after he was wishing for it." He turned,
with concern, to the clergyman. "Satisfied, sir? Did our little
entertainment please, or wasn't it up to the mark?"
But the transported native of Pekin was game. "I'm quite
satisfied, if you are. I think the affair cost you a hundred
dollars or so more than it did me."
"That's right," agreed the sheriff heartily. "But I don't grudge
it--not a cent of it. The show was worth the price of admission."
The car conductor had a broadside ready for him. "Seems to me you
shot off your mouth more than you did that big gun of yours, Mr.
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