ner of the mine he doesn't know, and there isn't a
chink in the mill, from the feed to the tail-sluice, that he hasn't got
his eye on." Luna's mood changed from the defensive to the assertive.
"I'll tell you one thing more. He's square, square as a die. He had me
bunched, but he give me a chance. He told me that I could stop the
stealing at the mill, that I had got to, and, by God, I'm going to, in
spite of hell!"

Morrison was relieved, but a sneer buried the manifestation of his
relief.

"Well," he exclaimed, "of all the soft, easy things I ever saw you're
the softest and the easiest!"

Luna only looked dogged.

"Hard words break no bones," he answered, sullenly.

"That may be," answered Morrison; "but it doesn't keep soft ones from
gumming your wits, that's sure."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean just this. You say the old man had you bunched. Well, he's got
you on your back now, and roped, too."

Luna answered still more sullenly:

"There's more'n one will be roped, then. If it comes to a show-down,
I'll not be alone."

"All right, Mr. Luna." Morrison spoke evenly. "When you feel like
calling the game just go right ahead. I'm not going to stop you."

Luna made no immediate reply. Morrison waited, ostentatiously
indifferent. Luna finally broke the silence.

"I don't see how the old man's got me roped."

"Well, now you're acting as if you had sense. I'll tell you. I'm always
ready to talk to a man that's got sense. Just answer a few straight
questions. In the first place, you've been stealing from the mill."

"I tell you I haven't," broke in Luna; "but I can tell you who has." He
looked sharply at Morrison.

Morrison waved his hand with wearied endurance.

"Well, you're foreman at the mill. If there's been stealing, and you
know your business, you know where it was done and how it was done. If
you don't know your business what are you there for, and how long are
you going to stay? You say yourself the old man is sharp, and he is. How
long is he going to keep either a thief or a fool in your place?"

"I'm not a thief," Luna answered, hotly. "I'm not a fool, either, and
I'm not going to be made one any longer by you, either."

"If you're not a fool listen to me, and keep quiet till I'm through."
Morrison leaned forward, checking his words with his fingers. "The old
man's sharp, and he's got you roped, any turn. There's been stealing at
the mill. You say this. You're foreman there. It doesn't make any