ces. He was still their
master and in that mute moment the three admitted it, the Pedlar last of
all.

Masters saw fit to fall back on the last remark.

"I've swallowed a lot from you, Nick," he said gravely.

"Maybe there'll be an end to what we take one of these days. But now
I'll tell you how yellow I was. A couple of gents come to me and tell me
I'm through at the mine. I told them they were crazy. They said old
Colonel Macon had sent them down to take charge. I laughed at 'em. They
went away and came back. Who with? With the sheriff. And he flashed a
paper on me. It was all drawn up clean as a whistle. Trimmed up with a
lot of 'whereases' and 'as hereinbefore mentioned' and such like things.
But the sheriff just gimme a look and then he tells me what it's about.
Jack Landis has signed over all the mines to the colonel and the
colonel has taken possession."

As he stopped, a growl came from the others.

"Lester is the man that has the complaint," said Lord Nick. "Where do
the rest of you figure in it? Lester had the mines; he lost 'em because
he couldn't drop Landis with his gun. He'd never have had a smell of the
gold if I hadn't come in. Who made Landis see light? I did! Who worked
it so that every nickel that came out of the mines went through the
fingers of Landis and came back to us? I did! But I'm through with you.
You can hunt for yourselves now. I've kept you together to guard one
another's backs. I've kept the law off your trail. You, Masters, you'd
have swung for killing the McKay brothers. Who saved you? Who was it
bribed the jury that tried you for the shooting up of Derbyville,
Pedlar? Who took the marshal off your trail after you'd knifed Lefty
Waller, Joe Rix? I've saved you all a dozen times. Now you whine at me.
I'm through with you forever!"

Stopping, he glared about him. His knuckles stung from the impact of the
blow he had delivered in Milligan's place. He hungered to have one of
these three stir a hand and get into action.

And they knew it. All at once they crumbled and became clay in his
hands.

"Chief," said Joe Rix, the smoothest spoken of the lot, and one who was
supposed to stand specially well with Lord Nick on account of his
ability to bake beans, Spanish. "Chief, you've said a whole pile. You're
worth more'n the rest of us all rolled together. Sure. We know that.
There ain't any argument. But here's just one little point that I want
to make.

"We was doing fine. The gold wa