voice heavy yet pleasant; "I
suppose you desire to know what bizness we've got in your cornfield,
eh, stranger?"

"That's about the dimensions of it, yes," replied Redburn, at once
conceiving a liking for the young road-agent, in whom he thought he
saw a true gentleman, in the disguise of a devil. "I came over to
learn the object you have in view, in invading our little valley, if
you have no objections in telling."

"Certainly not. As you may have guessed already, we are a band of
road-agents, whose field of action we have lately confined to the
Black Hills country. I have the honor of being the leader, and you
have doubtless heard of me--Deadwood Dick, the 'Road-Agent Prince,' as
the _Pioneer_ persists in terming me. Just at present, things are
rather sultry in the immediate vicinity of Deadwood, so far as we are
concerned, and we sought this locality to escape a small army of the
Deadwood military, who have been nosing around after us for the past
week."

"Well--?"

"Well, we happened to see a man and woman come this way, and believing
that it must lead to somewhere or other, we followed, and here we are,
out of the reach of the blue-coats, but, I take it, _in_ the way of a
party of secret miners. Is it not so?"

"No, not necessarily so, unless you put yourselves in the way. You
wish to remain quartered here for the present?"

"If not contrary to your wishes, we should like to, yes."

"I have no objections to offer, providing you will agree to two
points."

"And what are they, may I ask?"

"These. That you will camp at the mouth of the passage, and thus keep
out any other intruders that may come; second, that you will keep your
men to this side or the valley, and not interfere with any of our
laborers."

"To which I eagerly agree. You shall experience no inconvenience from
our presence here; you furnish us a haven of safety from the pursuing
soldiers; we in return will extend you our aid in repelling a host of
fortune-seekers who may any moment come down this way in swarms."

"Very well; that settles it, then. You keep your promise, and all will
go well."

The two shook hands: then Redburn turned and strode back to dismiss
his forces, while Dick and his men took up their position at the place
where the fissure opened into the gulch. Here they made preparations
to camp. Redburn, while returning to his men, heard a shout of joy,
and looking up, saw, to his surprise, that the old "General" and Alice
T