but I 'm going to take you down to my own quarters and ask your word you won't make a break 'less you know the cowmen win out and hear 'em making a search for you. Then—well, the windows are n't barred, Zang; you can take a chance."
Agnew felt the other's hand groping for his.
"Thanks, Agnew, you 're white. Where 's the girl? I don't want her mixed into all this."
"Why, she was asleep in the missis' room," Agnew replied. "You just step in here." He opened a door and pushed Whistler into Stygian darkness. "Don't make a light. I 'll go find the girl and bring her in here until we see which way the cat 's goin' to jump outside."
Whistler, groping for a chair, heard the sheriff's retreating footfalls. Then came to his ears a crashing of wood somewhere outside and the thunder of blows upon a door. Zang felt along the wall until his hand encountered a window sash. He pulled aside a shade and looked out. A part of the street before the courthouse was revealed to him. He saw a turbulent boiling of dim shapes there, the occasional spit of a rifle.
