stroking his goat's beard solemnly.

"Looks ter me like we'd managed ter drop into a mighty bad hole, an'
was up agin the real thing," he began gloomily, yet hastening to add in
explanation, "not as I have any notion o' cavin', you onderstand, only
I ain't overly pleased with the situation, an' thet 's a fact. I never
yit objected in particular ter no fair fight, not o' any kind, free fer
all, or stan' up, but I ain't used ter buckin' agin the law nohow, an'
someway thet seems ter be 'bout what we 're up agin this trip. Beats
hell the way things turned out, don't it?"

Winston nodded without opening his lips. He was thinking more
earnestly about Miss Norvell's unpleasant position than of their own,
yet compelled himself to attention.

"Now, this yere Farnham is a gambler an' a thief; he 's all round
crooked, an' we 've got a cinch on him fer the penitentiary. But we
ain't got the right holt," the old miner continued, squinting his eyes
as if thus endeavoring to get the thought firmly lodged in his brain.
"He 's ben made a deputy sheriff. He kin turn that crowd o' toughs
over thar into a posse, an' come over here with the whole law o' the
State backin' them in any deviltry they decide on, even ter killin' off
the lot o' us for resistin' officers. Es Sam Hayes said, if we shoot,
we 'll be a-shootin' up Gulpin County. An' yet, by thunder, we 've
plumb got ter do it, er git off the earth. I jest don't see no other
way. Biff, he won't care a damn how he gits us, so he gits us afore we
have any chance ter turn the tables on him, an' shift the law over ter
our side. Hayes can't help any, fer he 's out o' his head.
Consequent, it's up ter us. Thet warrant business, an' deputy sheriff
racket, was a blame smart trick, all right. It would 'a' corralled us
good an' proper if thet fool Swede had n't run amuck. Not that he left
us in no bed o' roses, but, at least, we got a fightin' chance now, an'
afore we did n't have even that. I was inclined ter let yer surrender
to the sheriff, fer Sam Hayes is a squar' man, but not ter Farnham an'
his gang--not much, Mary Ann! Thet would mean lynchin', an' I know it.
So, I reckon we jest got to plug it out, an' trust ter luck. Thet 's
my view-point, but ye 're a more higher edycated man ner me, Mr.
Winston, an' maybe you kin see some other way out."

The old man sat down on an outcropping stone, pulled out his pipe and
lit it, puffing thick rings of smoke into the air with m