he bother of
gittin' an expert of my own, an' goin' to Casey Town to look back of
those stopes, you're goin' to be sorry fo' it."

"I have a right to sell my stock."

"You ain't goin' to exercise that right, Keith. You may make a business
sellin' chances to folks who like to buy 'em, but you can't sell
Herefo'd folks paper when they think they're buyin' gold. I won't bunco
my neighbors an' I ain't goin' to 'low you to do it with any proposition
I'm interested in. You'll give me the money you got fo' the shares with
a list of the men you sold 'em to an' I'll tell 'em the Molly is pinched
out--as it is."

"You must be crazy, man! They wouldn't believe you. If you went round
with a statement like that you'd lose every cent of your own and your
ward's. You have no right...."

"Trouble is with you, you don't know the meanin' of that last word,"
said Sandy. "Right is jest what I aim to do. We'll put it up to Molly
an' you'll see where she stands. We don't do business out west the way
you do. We don't rob our friends or even try an' run a razoo on
strangehs. I reckon the folks'll believe me. If they don't I'll give 'em
stock of ours, share fo' share, to convince 'em until it's known the
Molly has flivvered."

"You'll ruin the whole camp."

"Not to my mind. They'll git out what gold's left The Molly'll shut
down. I'll git you to give me a statement 'long with the money an' the
list fo' me to check up, sayin' you've jest had news the vein has
petered out sudden--like it has. That's lettin' you down easy. They'll
think you an honorable man 'stead of a bunco-steerer. I'm doin' this
'count of the fact you folks have looked out fo' Molly. An' I'm tellin'
you, Keith, that, if Herefo'd folks knew you'd deliberately sold them
rotten stock, you an' yore private car might suffer consid'rable damage
befo' you got away. Out west folks still git riled over trick plays an'
holdouts, hawss-stealin' an' otheh deals that ain't square. I'd sure
advise you to come across."

Keith looked into the face of Sandy and, briefly, into his eyes, hard as
steel. He made one more attempt.

"Let's talk common sense, Bourke. You're quixotic. The Molly is
capitalized for a quarter of a million dollars. The stock can be sold at
par if it's done quietly. I can dispose of it for you. There is no
certainty that the mine will not produce richly when we strike through
the second level of porphyry. There are plenty of people willing to buy
shares on that c