For a moment their eyes were
not upon Eddie Shorter and Fate had it that at that very
moment Eddie awoke and opened his own eyes.
The sight that met them was so astonishing that for a
second the Kansan could not move. He saw Barbara Harding,
a revolver in her hand, aiding the outlaw to escape, and in the
instant that surprise kept him motionless Eddie saw, too,
another picture--the picture of a motherly woman in a little
farmhouse back in Kansas, and Eddie realized that this man,
this outlaw, had been the means of arousing within him a
desire and a determination to return again to those loving
arms. Too, the man had saved his mother from injury, and
possible death.
Eddie shut his eyes quickly and thought hard and fast. Miss
Barbara had always been kind to him. In his boyish heart he
had loved her, hopelessly of course, in a boyish way. She
wanted the outlaw to escape. Eddie realized that he would do
anything that Miss Barbara wanted, even if he had to risk his
life at it.
The girl and the man were at the door. She pushed him
through ahead of her while she kept the revolver leveled upon
Eddie, then she passed out after him and closed the door,
while Eddie Shorter kept his eyes tightly closed and prayed to
his God that Billy Byrne might get safely away.
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