"You damn fool, can't you do anything without breaking your neck?
I reckon you fell down the steps?
That you, Sam ?" Receiving no answer, the woman clutched the lantern and advanced boldly upon Bonner, who stood far down the passage, amazed and irresolute.

She looked more formidable to him than any of the men, so he prepared for a struggle.
"Halt!" he cried, when she was within ten feet of him.

"Don't resist; you are surrounded!" The woman stopped like one shot, glared ahead as if she saw him for the first time, and then uttered a frightful shriek of rage.

Dashing the lantern to the ground, she raised her arm and fired a revolver point blank at Bonner, despite the fact that his pistol was covering her.

He heard the bullet crash into the rotten timbers near his ear.