r tell," replied Hank. "I'm nat'rally suspicious
by bein' up in th' Crow country so much o' my time, an' I got ter
thinkin' 'bout Schoolcraft. I'm mostly stronger on hindsight than I am
on foresight, but this hyar's onct I sorta lined 'em both up an' got a
good bead. I snuk up ter his shanty an' heard him an' that thar greaser
chawin' tough meat with each other. So I come down hyar, expectin' ter
lay fer 'em with Abe; but danged if him an' them warn't at it already! I
only got two feet, two han's an' one mouth, an' I had ter waste one foot
a-standin' on it; but th' rest o' me jined th' dance. Then you come.
That's all."

"How long war you two holdin' off th' six o' 'em?" demanded Tom of Abe
with great interest, and thinking that Cooper's trust was well placed.

"'Twarn't long; two comets an' about six hundred stars, I reckon,"
mumbled the shrinking hero between swollen lips. "I war jest gittin' mad
enough to go fur my knife when Hank gits in step with th' music, an'
jines han's with us. What we goin' ter do with 'em?"

"Oh, give 'em a kick apiece an' turn 'em loose without thar weapons,"
suggested Hank.

Tom shook his head. "They come from Schoolcraft; let's take 'em back to
him," he suggested.

"Go ahead!" enthused Abe. Then he scratched his head. "But who's goin'
ter watch th' goods while we're gone? Jake ain't due fer couple o' hours
yet."

"You air!" snorted Hank. "You need a rest, an' us two is shore enough."
He prodded the figures on the ground with the toe of his moccasin. "Git
up, you squaw dogs!" he ordered.

In a moment five thoroughly cowed men were plodding before their guards.
The sixth, who was still wandering about on the far side of the boundary
of consciousness, was across Tom's shoulder. Reaching the horse-dealer's
shanty, the prisoners opened the door by the simple expedient of surging
against it as they shrunk from the pricks of Hank's skinning knife. The
two men inside escaped the crashing door by vaulting over a small table,
and before they could recover their wits in the face of this amazing
return of their friends they were looking down the barrels of two
six-shooters.

Tom dumped his burden onto the table, kicked a chair through a closed
window, swept an open ink bottle onto Schoolcraft's manly stomach, and
made a horrible face at the pop-eyed Mexican. "Hyar they air, polecat,"
he growled. "Any more raids on our goods an' I trail ye an' shoot on
sight. Don't give a cuss who does it, or