put you in bad with me."

"All right. Maybe I was hasty. But I'm not wasting time these days,"
replied Cleve. "I've no hard feelings.... Pearce, do you want to shake
hands--or hold that against me?"

"He'll shake, of course," said Kells.

Pearce extended his hand, but with a bad grace. He was dominated. This
affront of Cleve's would rankle in him.

"Kells, what do you want with me?" demanded Cleve.

A change passed over Kells, and Joan could not tell just what it was,
but somehow it seemed to suggest a weaker man.

"Jim, you've been a great card for me," began Kells, impressively.
"You've helped my game--and twice you saved my life. I think a lot
of you.... If you stand by me now I swear I'll return the trick some
day.... Will you stand by me?"

"Yes," replied Cleve, steadily, but he grew pale. "What's the trouble?"

"By--, it's bad enough!" exclaimed Kells, and as he spoke the shade
deepened in his haggard face. "Gulden has split my Legion. He has drawn
away more than half my men. They have been drunk and crazy ever since.
They've taken things into their own hands. You see the result as well as
I. That camp down there is fire and brimstone. Some one of that drunken
gang has talked. We're none of us safe any more. I see suspicion
everywhere. I've urged getting a big stake and then hitting the trail
for the border. But not a man sticks to me in that. They all want the
free, easy, wild life of this gold-camp. So we're anchored till--till...
But maybe it's not too late. Pearce, Oliver, Smith--all the best of my
Legion--profess loyalty to me. If we all pull together maybe we can
win yet. But they've threatened to split, too. And it's all on your
account!"

"Mine?" ejaculated Cleve.

"Yes. Now it's nothing to make you flash your gun. Remember you said
you'd stand by me.... Jim, the fact is--all the gang to a man believe
you're double-crossing me!"

"In what way?" queried Cleve, blanching.

"They think you're the one who has talked. They blame you for the
suspicion that's growing."

"Well, they're absolutely wrong," declared Cleve, in a ringing voice.

"I know they are. Mind you I'm not hinting I distrust you. I don't. I
swear by you. But Pearce--"

"So it's Pearce," interrupted Cleve, darkly. "I thought you said he
hadn't tried to put me in bad with you."

"He hasn't. He simply spoke his convictions. He has a right to them.
So have all the men. And, to come to the point, they all think you're
crooked bec