of the broken League. We
had just opened the door, when we met a man striding up at a great pace.
It was Geordie Crawford.

'Hae ye seen the lad?' was his salutation. No one replied. So I told
Geordie of my last sight of Billy in the orchestra.

'An' did ye no' gang aifter him?' he asked in indignant surprise, adding
with some contempt, 'Man! but ye're a feckless buddie.'

'Billy gone too!' said Shaw. 'They might have let Billy alone.'

Poor Craig stood in a dumb agony. Billy's fall seemed more than he
could bear. We went out, leaving him heart-broken amid the ruins of his
League.

CHAPTER IX

THE LEAGUE'S REVENGE

As we stood outside of Craig's shack in the dim starlight, we could not
hide from ourselves that we were beaten. It was not so much grief as
a blind fury that filled my heart, and looking at the faces of the men
about me I read the same feeling there. But what could we do? The yells
of carousing miners down at Slavin's told us that nothing could be done
with them that night. To be so utterly beaten, and unfairly, and with no
chance of revenge, was maddening.

'I'd like to get back at 'em,' said Abe, carefully repressing himself.

'I've got it, men,' said Graeme suddenly. 'This town does not require
all the whisky there is in it'; and he unfolded his plan. It was to gain
possession of Slavin's saloon and the bar of the Black Rock Hotel, and
clear out all the liquor to be found in both these places. I did not
much like the idea; and Geordie said, 'I'm ga'en aifter the lad; I'll
hae naethin' tae dae wi' yon. It's' no' that easy, an' it's a sinfu'
waste.'

But Abe was wild to try it, and Shaw was quite willing, while old Nelson
sternly approved.

'Nelson, you and Shaw get a couple of our men and attend to the saloon.
Slavin and the whole gang are up at the Black Rock, so you won't have
much trouble; but come to us as soon as you can.'

And so we went our ways.

Then followed a scene the like of which I can never hope to see again,
and it was worth a man's seeing. But there were times that night when I
wished I had not agreed to follow Graeme in his plot. As we went up to
the hotel, I asked Graeme, 'What about the law of this?'

'Law!' he replied indignantly. 'They haven't troubled much about law in
the whisky business here. They get a keg of high wines and some drugs
and begin operations. No!' he went on; 'if we can get the crowd out, and
ourselves in, we'll make them break the law in gettin