Ag about paying the driver, he says, 'That's so,' then he takes a
quick look around. 'We can pay him in full, too, old horse!' he
hollers, and there was a most joyful smile on his face.

"'Red,' say he, 'do you know this is the only ford on the river
for--I don't know how many miles--perhaps the whole length of her?'

"'Well?' says I.

"'Our little placer claim,' says Aggy slowly, rubbing his hands
together, 'covers that ford; and by a judicious taking up of claims
for various uncles and brothers and friends of ours along the creek
on the lowlands, we can fix it so they can't even bridge it.'

"'Do you mean they can't cross our claim if we say they can't?'

"'Sure thing!' says Aggy. 'There's you and me and the law to say
"no" to that--I wish I had a gun.'

"'You don't need any gun for that skunk of a driver.'

"'Of course not, but there'll be passengers, and there's no telling
how excited them passengers will be when they find they've got to
go over the hills ford-hunting.'

"'Are you going to send 'em all around, Ag?'

"'The whole bunch. Anybody coming back from the diggings has gold
in his clothes, so it won't hurt 'em none, and I propose to give
that stage line an advertising that won't do it a bit of good.
Come along, Red; let's see that lad that has the shack up the
river. We need something to eat, and maybe he's got a gun. If
he's a decent feller, we'll let him in on a claim. Never mind
about the hole!--it won't run away, and there's nobody to touch
anything--come on.'

"So we went up the river. The man's name was White, and he was a
white man by nature, too. He fed us well, and was just as hot as
us when we told him about the stage driver's trick. Then we told
him about the find and let him in.

"'Now,' says Aggy, 'have you got a gun?'

"'I have _that_,' says the man. 'My dad used to be a duck-hunter
on Chesapeake bay. When you say "gun," _I'll_ show you a gun.' He
dove in under his bunk and fetched out what I should say was a
number one bore shot gun, with barrels six foot long.

"'Gentlemen,' says he, holding the gun up and patting it lovingly,
'if you ram a quarter-pound of powder in each one of them barrels,
and a handful of buck-shot on top of that, you've got an argument
that couldn't be upset by the Supreme Court. I'll guarantee that
when you point her anywheres within ten feet of a man not over a
hundred yards away, and let her do her duty, all the talent that
that man's fambl