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and" you can go, free. We-ain't got nothing against your Warden Davis deliberately arose and drew a line in the mud with his " boot toe.. Then he closed one-half the gate slowly, calmly. "The first man that sets foot across that line I'll shoot," said Davis, rais ing his rifle. The -man who had addressed him halted irresolutely. "I know you, Simms, for all your mask, said the warden. Now boys, are you going to follow that man to your death? Go home, you fools." Suddenly there came' a revolver crack from the mob and the old man pitched forward, struggled to rise and sank back with a "groan. His knee was shattered. The rifle had fallen from his hand and -he made frantic, futile efforts to-regain it." At tne souna or tne snot Mouie naa sprung to "her f-atKer's J' side?-'" She snatched the rifle and, pointing it at Simms, fired. TneTmatf reeled and fell. The mob shrank back and in an instant .she had dragged"- Her father inside the . gate and closed' it. Next moment.sne was carrying ,mm;. pant ins: under his weight, into the house. while the- crowd hammered, in fury upon tne gates. i "They'll last five minutes,'' Davis muttered, and relapsed into uncon sciousness. Upon the wall of the office hung the keys. Acting now by blind in stinct, Mollie seized the heaviest of all, the key which opened the dobr of Lowndes' cell. She ran down the flagged passage, gasping. The key clicked in the lock, and the convict rose in astonishment to see the girl standing there. "Come!" she, cried, and ran back. As Lowndes followed her he heard the thud of wood upon wood and the triumphant yells of the mob as the gates splintered before, the blows of their beams. The girl dragged him into the office and flung the shutters close and barred the door. .into. .his. hands. "TphU save my i" father?" she cried. "I trust you.. g They are maddened now by the sight rA of blood, but they shall never set foot ' in here, as 'iqng as I liye." ' , , "Or I," he answered, and kneeling c t beside the window, opened a chink, rB ' in. the shutters and thrust the rifle ' forth. The leaders looked into it as they ran yelling forward. They knew-,;p ' that their revolver bullets were ppw-r rf erless against the strong, window T' beams. ri "Turn back or .1 fireJ cried ,the convict. As they paused he knew that he had. them at his mercy. The mob. instinct of fear had conquered, that of hate. They halted and the' courage was gone out of then He' ,n flung the shutters wide and rose to 0 s -his feet. f. "Fling down your, weapons!" he fe' shouted. - f. They saw the tall figure in con- ' vict!s stripes and the gleaming bar rel leveled-.on them. Sullenly theys - obeyed and. withdrew toward the J eate Then from bevond the road a trampling was heard. Gray-coated men came at thedouble quick toward "i the prison. It was the militia com- rA pany from the capital. A moment later and the last of the assailants, were racing to, safety. Two officers bore the man who. had been shdt.into the office and placed. -him at the warden's side. The elder man opened his eyes. . Thank. God, warden, we came in t. time' said the commanding officer. What, have they done to vou? A v knee wound? You'll be up and around in a week, man. But as fpr.him " ' pUUUia iuyaucu ctuu auuggmu llllu 4 sitting posture, his head restine T?rfl against the officer's shoulder. He " nr was shot through the bqdy. He could ,i not live an hour. . "I want to tell you " he mut tered, and then his eyes met those of thejeonvict's. The tvo meh.staied 4 . fixedly at each other. Simms uttered sis a groan. - - l4? "Listen before I die," he gasped xg, 59