hind you. Lord Nick is slipping. We'll put you in his place. You won't
even have to face him; we'll get rid of him."

"You'll kill him and give his place to me?" asked Donnegan.

"We will. And when you're with us, you cut in on the whole amount of
coin that the mines turn out--and it'll be something tidy. And right
now, to show where we stand and how high we put you, I'll let you in on
the rock-bottom truth. Mr. Donnegan. out there tied behind my saddle
there's thirty thousand dollars in pure gold. You can take it in here
and weigh it out!"

He stepped back to watch this blow take effect. To his unutterable
astonishment the little man had not moved. His chin still rested upon
the back of his hand, and the smile which was on the lips and not in the
eyes of Donnegan remained there, fixed.

"Donnegan," muttered Joe Rix, "if we can't get you, we'll get rid of
you. You understand?"

But the other continued to smile.

It gave Joe Rix a shuddering feeling that someone was stealing behind
him to block his way to the door. He cast one swift glance over his
shoulder and then, seeing that the way was clear, he slunk back, always
keeping his face to the red-headed man. But when he came to the doorway
his nerve collapsed. He whirled, covered the rest of the distance with a
leap, and emerged from the cabin in a fashion ludicrously like one who
has been kicked through a door.

His nerve returned as soon as the sunlight fell warmly upon him again;
and he looked around hastily to see if anyone had observed his flight.

There was no one on the whole hillside except Colonel Macon in the
invalid chair, and the colonel was smiling broadly, beneficently. He had
his perfect hands folded across his breast and seemed to cast a prayer
of peace and goodwill upon Joe Rix.

39

Nelly Lebrun smelled danger. She sensed it as plainly as the deer when
the puma comes between her and the wind. The many tokens that something
was wrong came to her by small hints which had to be put together before
they assumed any importance.

First of all, her father, who should have burst out at her in a tirade
for having left Lord Nick for Donnegan said nothing at all, but kept a
dark smile on his face when she was near him. He even insinuated that
Nick's time was done and that another was due to supersede him.

In the second place, she had passed into a room where Masters, Joe Rix,
and the Pedlar sat cheek by jowl in close conference with a hum of