re. The cars will go on cutting larger and larger circle, and
all the time getting farther away from us. In half an hour the cars and
the men will be so far away that we need give no thought to them. Then
we can attend to Reade and Hazelton."

"What are you going to do with them?" demanded Ashby in a whisper, his
cunning eyes lighting with a fire of added eagerness.

"We'll get 'em awake, first of all," nodded Jim Duff. "Then we'll attend
to them."

"Remember, they ruined my business!" whispered the hotel man.

"Well, didn't they ruin my business, too?" snarled Duff. "Didn't they
cant like a pair of hypocrites, and turn hundreds of their workmen
against coming in to play in my place? Didn't these young hounds keep
me from winning thousands of dollars of railroad money? Ash, I tell you,
these young fellows have hit me hard! First, they broke up my games.
Next, they talked their men out of going into Paloma and spending
money for drink. Why, Ash, next thing you know, they would have brought
missionaries to Paloma to convert men and to build churches!"

As Ashby glared at the unconscious boys from under his black brows he
looked as though he believed them capable of all the wickedness that Jim
Duff's imagination had charged against them.

"I can't wait!" groaned the hotel man. "Just one barrel of shot apiece
into each of 'em!"

"No, no, no, Ash! Haven't I always been your good friend?"

"You surely have, Jim Duff," admitted the mad hotel man. "You're the one
man alive to-night that I'd trust."

"Then trust me a little further," coaxed the gambler virtuously. "Trust
to my brains tonight, George, and you'll feast on revenge!"

"But you keep me waiting so long for it!" complained the lunatic.

"Don't you trust me, George?"

"You know I do, Jim Duff."

"Then trust me a little longer. Be quiet, and be patient."

"But--"

"Sh!" warned Duff suddenly, throwing himself flat on the ground. "Down
with you, Ash!"

"What is it?" whispered the hotel man in the gambler's ear as he too
sank to the ground.

"Sh!" once more warned the gambler. "Use your eyes, George. Look out
over the sand in the darkness. Do you see two men prowling this way?"

"Yes," assented the hotel man, after a pause.

"They're looking for us--enemies, George. Use all your cunning. Above
all, be silent and lie low! Don't make a move, unless I tell you to do
so. Show your trust in me, Ash, as you've never shown it before. If you
don't, we'll be