I ain't goin' to let him make trouble for
us, not if I knows what I'm about."

Hank made no reply, but puffed silently at his pipe.

Jamie was wide awake again. This man Bill meant some evil, and the
little lad wondered vaguely what it could be that was to be done to
himself, and what his fate was to be. He was vastly uncomfortable,
too, with his hands tied behind his back, though he was glad enough to
be permitted to lie down. He could scarcely keep the tears back, as he
thought of the happy time in camp that had been planned, of the snug
tent where he was to have slept with Doctor Joe, and of his own warm
bed at home, and he wondered whether he would ever see The Jug again.

"The boss'll be sore at us, Hank, if we ain't back to camp to-morrow,"
remarked Bill presently, breaking the silence. "He can be sore though
if he wants to. He can't fire us fellers for bein' away even if he
does get sore and cuss us out. He needs us bad, and he can't get any
more men now. I don't mind his cussin'. Cussin' don't hurt a feller."

"If the wind don't get worse and the snow lets up some so we can make
out our way we better go back though as soon as it's light enough in
the mornin'," answered Hank. "I wish I was out'n this business
anyhow."

"We can get across the Bay even if it does snow some in the mornin',
long's there ain't too much sea," said Bill. "I'm for gettin' away
from here too. We've got the swag all right and nobody'll know about
it, if we don't let this kid loose to blab. It was lucky we caught
this feller before he found it, but he heard too much."

"What you goin' to do with him, Bill?"

"Croak him. I ain't goin' to take chances with him. It ain't my way to
take chances I don't have to take."

"You better not do any croakin', Bill. I won't stand for _that_. I'm
tough, and I've done plenty of tough things in my day, but I never
croaked a little kid like him, and I won't stand for it."

"Don't you go and get soft now. 'Tain't any worse to croak a kid than
a man. You'd croak a man if you had to, and this is a time when we've
got to do it to save ourselves."

"Well, I won't stand for it while I'm sober, and I'm sober now even if
I have had a drink or two." Hank reached for a firebrand with which to
relight his pipe.

"Well, you've got to stand for this. I'm mixed up in it just as much
as you be, and I'm goin' to have some say. I ain't goin' to take
chances on him goin' back to his gang and givin' us away."

"