"He has gone"; and the speaker added the story about the supposed shot and subsequent disappearance of Gassen.
The men listened very intently, and kept shooting black angry glances of suspicion at me. They guessed what had occurred.
"Where is he?" they demanded, turning to me, when the "general" finished.
I was on the horns of a dilemma. If I made any show of force I should be giving the lie to the "general’s" statement.
"He went off down the river to look for you," I answered.
"’Down’ the river?" cried another quickly. "You hear that?"
"Well, up the river then," I said sullenly.
"You shot him. That’s the truth," came the retort, sharp as a pistol report.
This appeared to give me the opportunity I sought of being able to take out my revolver without any apparent hostile intention. "Here’s my revolver. You can see for yourself it hasn’t been fired."
But it was as bad a blunder as I could have made. One of them craned his neck forward as if to satisfy himself of the truth of what I had said; and then gave a cry of rage. "It’s Gassen’s pistol. There’s his mark on it. I know it."
"Well, anyway it’s loaded in all six chambers; and it’s the only one that’s going to be drawn now." I spoke very coolly and watched the three newcomers closely.
"What about no treachery now?" cried one, turning to the elder man.
"You’ve brought this on yourselves by suspecting me. You’d better go before there’s any trouble," I said to the three. If I could get rid of them, the others would give little trouble enough.
"You’d better go," said the "general" nervously.
They were perplexed what to do, and stood hesitating near the door. The sight of my weapon had a very wholesome restraining effect. One of them began to back out, and it looked as if I was going to get my way and frighten them off.
But just as this appeared most probable and I was beginning to breathe more freely again, trouble came from the man, Schmidt, whom I had treated with contemptuous indifference as of no account.
He had been standing in the corner to which I had thrust him on the arrival of the others, and had not spoken a word. I had almost forgotten him, indeed; but I was to pay for that forgetfulness now.
As I stood facing the others he was on my left hand, and he hurled something at me with great force. It struck my revolver hand and the weapon dropped. When I recovered my surprise I was looking down the barrels of three pistols pointed straight at my head.