santly. "Thought I'd let
you sleep as long as I could, for we've got some job ahead of us.
Sorry thar ain't no breakfast waitin', fer I wouldn't object ter a bit
o' ham bone myself. I reckon if Lacy coops me up yere much longer,
he's liable ter win his bet; I'm plumb near starved out already."

"I'm afraid they've got us, Dan."

"Oh, I don't know; leastwise I ain't put up no white flag yet. You're
game fer a try at gettin' out o' yere, ain't yer, old man? I've sorter
been reckonin' on yer."

"I'll take any chance there is," returned Westcott heartily, staring
into the other's face. "Have you some plan?"

"Maybe 'tain't that exactly, but I've been doin' a powerful lot o'
thinkin' since you was asleep, Jim, an' I reckon we might beat these
fellers with a fair show o' luck. This is how I figure it out. Thar
won't be no attack; that's a cinch. Lacy knows we can shoot, an' he
also knows we're marooned yere without food. The easiest thing is ter
starve us out."

"But there are good men in this camp, law abiding men," interrupted the
miner. "What about them? Won't they take a hand?"

"Maybe they might if I was free ter get 'em together; but I ain't.
Most o' 'em are out in the mines anyway; they don't know which party is
right in this rumpus, an' they ain't got no leader. Lacy runs the
town, an' he's got a big gang o' toughs behind him. There ain't nobody
wants to buck up against his game. Of course the boys might get mad
after a while, but I reckon we'd be starved plumb ter death long afore
that happened. An' that ain't the worst ov it, Jim--the sheriff is
Lacy's man. I wouldn't never dare turn you over ter him--not by a
jugful."

"Then we are blocked at every turn."

"We sure are, unless we can dig out ourselves," gravely. "My notion is
to get a fair start, drift out into Shoshone, whar we'll leave no
trail, an' then hit for over the line. Sam Watts is sheriff of
Coconino, an' he'd give us a square deal."

"On foot?"

"Hell, no! I ain't no such walker as all that. Come over yere; keep
yer head down; now look out between these two rocks. Do yer see them
cow-ponies hitched ter the rack alongside o' the Red Dog? Well,
they've been thar fer a matter o' three hours, I reckon, an' their
riders ain't liable ter leave as long as thar's any excitement in town.
They're XL men, and mostly drunk by this time. It's my aim ter get a
leg over one o' them animals. How does that notion strike you?"

West