He seemed the most alive man in the room.
Uncle Henry cried out, wildly, "Hey, ain't there no Americans present?" He
saw Gilbert's gun which was on the seat beneath the stairway. He was close
enough to grasp it. He did so, pointed it at the room in general, and
yelled, "Now I got yuh! Hands up, everybody!"
But no one moved. A disdainful silence followed. "Didn't yuh hear what I
said?" Uncle Henry inquired, looking at everybody.
"Put that down," said Hardy contemptuously. "You might hurt somebody," he
added, smiling.
"Ain't yuh goin' to do it?" Uncle Henry asked.
"As I was going to say--" Hardy started, when Uncle Henry interrupted him
with:
"But it was what _he_ done!"
"Who?" asked Hardy.
"The bandit," Uncle Henry answered.
"Will you keep still?" Hardy urged.
"Certainly not!" Uncle Henry went on. "I got a gun here and I--"
Hardy reached for the weapon. "I'm holdin' you up, gol darn it!" Jasper
Hardy took the gun as he would have taken a bag of peanuts from a child,
and handed it to Gilbert with a wink.
"Hey! You can't do that!" wailed the invalid. He wheeled his chair toward
his nephew. "You wouldn't do that if my friend Lopez was here, you big
bum!" he ended, as peevish as an infant.
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