"Ain't even strong enough to pull a trigger! Poor 'ittle baby! Well, if you can't even do that much, you better watch me while _I_--" "Well," said Sam reasonably, "why don't you go on and do it then ?" "Well, I AM goin' to, ain't I ?" "Well, then, why don't you ?" "Oh, I'll do it fast enough to suit YOU, I guess," Penrod retorted, swinging the big revolver up a little higher than his shoulder and pointing it in the direction of the double doors, which opened upon the alley.

"You better run, Sam," he jeered.

"You'll be pretty scared when I shoot her off, I guess." "Well, why don't you SEE if I will?
I bet you're afraid yourself." "Oh, I am, am I ?" said Penrod, in a reckless voice--and his finger touched the trigger.

It seemed to him that his finger no more than touched it; perhaps he had been reassured by Sam's assertion that the trigger was difficult.

His intentions must remain in doubt, and probably Penrod himself was not certain of them; but one thing comes to the surface as entirely definite--that trigger was not so hard to pull as Sam said it was.
BANG! WH-A-A-ACK! A shattering report split the air of the stable, and there was an orifice of remarkable diameter in the alley door.