s kids. I said to him: 'Hell, Billy, what's a friend
for?' And I shoves a check at him. He wouldn't look at it; said he
didn't know whether he could ever pay it, and he had not come down to
charity yet."

"Billy's a white man. That's what makes me sick. Right on top of all
his bad luck he comes here and sees that everybody is getting a big
roll. He thinks of that white-faced wife of his dragging herself round
among the kids and dying by inches for lack of what money can buy her.
I tell you I don't blame him. It's the fellows putting the temptation
up to him that ought to be strung up."

"I see that hound Pelton's mighty active in it. He's got it in for
Ridgway since Waring threw him down, and he's plugging night and day
for Warner. Stays pretty well tanked up. Hopper tells me he's been
making threats to kill Waring on sight."

"I heard that and told Waring. He laughed and said he hoped he would
live till Pelton killed him. I like Waring. He's got the guts, as his
miners say. But he's away off on this fight. He's using money right and
left just as Harley is."

Yesler nodded. "The whole town's corrupted. It takes bribery for
granted. Men meet on the street and ask what the price of votes is this
morning. Everybody feels prosperous."

"I heard that a chambermaid at the Quartzite Hotel found seven thousand
dollars in big bills pinned to the bottom of a mattress in Garner's
room yesterday. He didn't dare bank it, of course."

"Poor devil! He's another man that would like to be honest, but with
the whole place impregnated with bribery he couldn't stand the
pressure. But after this is all over he'll go home to his wife and his
neighbors with the canker of this thing at his heart until he dies. I
tell you, Jack, I'm for stopping it if we can."

"How?"

"There's one way. I've been approached indirectly by Pelton, to deliver
our vote to the Consolidated. Suppose we arrange to do it, get
evidence, and make a public exposure."

They were alone in a private dining-room of a restaurant, but Yesler's
voice had fallen almost to a whisper. With his steady gray eyes he
looked across at the man who had ridden the range with him fifteen
years ago when he had not had a sou to bless himself with.

Roper tugged at his long drooping mustache and gazed at his friend.
"It's a large order, Sam, a devilish large order. Do you reckon we
could deliver?"

"I think so. There are six of us that will stand pat at any cost. If we
play our