You, Jack, don't know the guy we're so dead keen to
help out. If you did you'd git right up on to your hind legs an' cuss
terrible--an' you've cussed some in your time. But for him this camp
wouldn't be the bonanza it is. You wouldn't be nettin' a pile of
dollars every night in my bar. I wouldn't be runnin' a big proposition
in dollar makin'. These boys wouldn't be chasin' gold on full bellies.
Gee, it makes me mad--an' thirsty. Let's get around inside an' see
what that glass rustler of mine can do."

The response was immediate and complete. No man had ever been known to
refuse Beasley's hospitality. Everybody drank. And they drank again at
Diamond Jack's expense. Then later they drank at their own. And all
the while Beasley, with consummate skill, shepherded them to his own
ends.

It was truly wonderful to see the manner in which he handled them. He
adopted the simplest tactics, once he had set the ball rolling,
contenting himself with dropping in a word here and there every time
the subject of the sheriff drifted toward his ears. He knew these men.
He possessed that keenness of insight into his customers which no
successful saloon-keeper fails to acquire. He understood their
weaknesses in a manner which left it a simple enough task to play upon
them. In this case the basis of his procedure was drink--strong, harsh
whisky, of a violent type.

The banking clouds rose ponderously upon the hilltops, blacking out
the twilight with an abruptness which must have held deep significance
for men less occupied. But the dominant overcast of their minds was
the coming of the sheriff. For many of them it was far more ominous
than any storm of nature.

The bar filled to overflowing. No one cared to gamble. There would
have been no room for them, anyway. Even Diamond Jack showed no
inclination to pursue his trade. Perhaps this was the most significant
feature of all.

His was a weighty word thrown in the balance of public opinion.
Perhaps this was the result of his well-understood shrewdness. At any
rate he never failed to find a ready audience for his opinions, and
to-night his opinions were strongly and forcefully declared. Beasley
listened to him with interest, and smiled as he observed him moving
about amongst the crowd drinking with one, treating another, his
tongue never idle in his denunciation of sheriffs, and all those who
called in their aid. It almost seemed as if the man was acting under
orders, orders, perhaps ins