Читать книгу Jesse James' Desperate Game; Or, The Robbery of the Ste. Genevieve Bank онлайн

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"You'd best make a clean breast of it," counselled the bandit-chieftain, "you won't get any aid from these gentlemen.

"Just tell me how you knew I was to be accused."

An instant the helpless conspirator said nothing.

With a wink at the members of the posse, Jesse clicked the hammer of his "Colt."

"Spare me! Spare me!" groaned Fred. "I'll tell. I'll tell." And hurriedly he blurted the details of the plot to discredit the rescuers.

Incredulous, the men stared at one another as the story was told.

Unwilling to believe that the merchant would stoop to such an act, they examined the boy with a merciless fire of cross-questions.

But the lad doggedly maintained he was telling the truth and when at last the members of the posse were reluctantly forced to believe, their anger at the dastardly plot knew no bounds.

"Lynch him! Shoot him!" rang from many a throat as the men urged their horses forward that they might lay hands on the wretch.

Enraged as he was, the great bandit cried:

"Steady, men, steady! The lad isn't so much to blame as his father."