pen?"

"Attending to the same business as you are--after a slice of the bank
coin," replied the short man, carelessly.

Wagg got to his feet and banged his fists together. "Do you dare to walk
right up to a guard of the state prison and--and--" He balked in his
demand for information; Mr. Wagg was plainly afflicted with a few
uncomfortable considerations of his own situation.

"We do!" the convicts declared in concert. Then the dumpy man went on:
"And whatever else it is you're wondering whether we dare to do, we'll
inform that we dare. Once on a time we had occasion to express our
opinion of a bank. I wrote out that opinion and left it where it would
be seen. Not exactly Sunday-school language, but it hit the case." He
turned away from Vaniman's frenzy of gasping interrogation. He confined
his attention to Wagg. "A prison guard, say you? You're a hell of a
guard!"

"Opinion indorsed!" said the other convict.

For a few moments there was complete silence on the summit of Devilbrow.
Somewhere, on an upland farm in the distance, a cow mooed. Then a
rooster challenged all comers.

"That's the word, old top!" agreed the tall man. "It expresses my
feelings," He clapped his hands against his legs and cried in his
tenor, imitating the singsong of the rooster, "We're here because we're
he-e-ere!"

Then he and his fellow sat down on a ledge outcropping that overtopped
and commanded the position of the other men. The convicts surveyed
Vaniman and Wagg with a complacent air of triumph. "Are you willing to
take things as they stand, or do you feel that you can't go ahead till
your curiosity has been scratched?" inquired the short man.

"Curiosity!" stormed the ex-cashier. "Do you dare to call the feeling I
have in me curiosity?" He thumped his fist against his breast.

"And how about my feelings, with escaped convicts racing and chasing all
over this country?" shouted the guard. "What has happened to that prison
since I've been off my job?"

"One at a time!" The dumpy man put up his hand to shut off the stream of
questions that were pouring from Wagg. "The young fellow has his innings
first. He has more good reasons for rearing and tearing. It's easy
enough to get out of a state prison when you have a trick that can be
worked once." He winked at Wagg. Then he directed his remarks strictly
at Vaniman.

"I'm going to talk free and open. We're all in the same boat. We're a
couple of pots, and both of you are kettles, all