ot be, that it was impossible, ludicrously impossible! He
tried to ask himself what it would mean. He tried to answer--and could
not. It would mean that there could be no work done to-day! And
to-morrow? Would the men be fit to work to-morrow? And the next day?
How long would the stuff last?--how long the effects of it when it was
gone?

He thought suddenly of the revolver which Lonesome Pete had given him,
and which struck against his hip as he walked; and he stopped dead in
his tracks at the thought of it. And then he laughed at himself for a
fool and strode on. Half of the men were armed. True, they were drunk,
but what of that? They were two hundred against one, and they were
not cowards. And in the end he would not have helped the Great Work;
he would only have done a fool's part and lost his own life. No, there
was no chance--

One thought suggests another. He had not gone on a dozen steps before
he stopped again, a light of hope and of determination creeping slowly
into his eyes. A moment he hesitated. And then, flinging all
hesitation from him, seeing clearly his one desperate hope, crying
aloud, "I'll do it!" he broke into a run toward the tent. Yesterday
they had taken Bat Truxton to Valley City. But they had forgotten Bat
Truxton's rifle.

CHAPTER XVIII

With eager fingers Conniston struck a match. Almost the first thing
which his searching eyes found was the heavy Winchester, three inches
of its barrel protruding from a roll of bedding. He flung the bedding
open upon the ground. There was half a box of cartridges with it. He
made sure that the magazine was filled, threw a shell into the barrel,
thrust the box into his pocket, and ran outside.

No one had seen him. There were no eyes for him. A very few stragglers
moved unsteadily here and there; the great majority of the men were
packed in a mass about the barrel. Tin cups, dippers, even buckets and
pans ran from hand to hand, from those nearest the wagon to the
clamorous fellows upon the outskirts of the crowd, spilling the liquor
freely as they were jolted and jostled.

This his eyes took in at a quick glance. Then he saw that fifty yards
from the group of men there was another wagon which had been drawn
aside with its four empty barrels. Walking slowly now, the rifle held
vertically close to the side which was turned away from them, he moved
toward this second wagon. He reached it, attracting no attention.
Springing into its low bed, he dr