smissed them with a wave of his hand. The half breed lifted
himself from the ground behind the shack and slunk away.

Half the conspirators were already through the window when Koppy made a
movement of his hand toward the camp. Creatures of his will, they
obeyed without a word and wound away, later to drop down to the camp.
Koppy followed. Straight through the unkempt cluster of buildings they
went until they were out in the open river bottom far from the nearest
group of gamblers, who turned dull eyes on them between plays.

Koppy seated himself and waved to his followers to do the same. Up at
the end of the trestle the light from the boss's shack twinkled through
the gloom. Close beside them the gurgle of the waters was soft and
soothing, and the colour-touched clouds above the setting sun cast an
unreal glow over the edges of the river bank. Koppy moved his eyes
about uncomfortably on the day's good-night. The mumblings of Werner
brought him to the task in hand.

"We attack to-morrow night at midnight!" he announced.

A gasp went up from the lips about him. Fanatic and bloodthirsty as
they were, the imminence of the ordeal that was to requite their wrongs
startled them. Their preference was to curse their bosses and spur
others to dangerous revenge. In moments of carefully developed
hysteria they were reckless enough--when the hour came they would
probably go forward blindly, with the foolhardiness of the
ignorant--but Koppy's methods to-night were singularly unenflaming.

Werner expressed himself first:

"Like hell we do!"

Koppy ignored their agitation; for some reason he did not choose to
exercise then the petty arts of the leader.

"Perhaps some one hear up there," he explained, jerking an impatient
thumb toward the shack they had left. "I fool him."

"You fool us, too," grumbled Werner.

"To-morrow night at midnight we strike. Boss asleep, everybody asleep.
Police asleep, too. Sure thing!"

"I be blowed!" Werner snarled to himself. "Here I been counting on a
week or so to live--or make a getaway. Now I'm to be shot at midnight!
A dog would get a fairer chance."

"At supper to-morrow tell the men," ordered Koppy. "Morani get
dynamite. Werner take ten men and watch Mr. Conrad--perhaps a knife.
Heppel tear up track and stop Police. Lomask take ten rifles back of
boss's shack. Hoffman smash boss's speeder. One-Eye Sam take
rock-hogs to trestle. Dimhoff cut wires."

Silence was ov