at up.

"Well," he said, "now I've given you boys your message and told you what
I know, and you've fixed me up, so I'll be movin' on. Where are those
things I used to call shoes?"

We exchanged glances. He was the beaver man.

"We aren't through yet," I said.

"Oh, I reckon you are," he answered. "I'm much obliged. Pass me the
shoes, will you?"

"No; wait," said Kit Carson.

"What for?" He was beginning to growl.

"Till you're all fixed."

"I'm fixed enough."

"We'll dress some of those wounds over again."

"No, you won't. Pass me those shoes."

They were hidden behind a tree.

"Can't you wait a little?"

"No, I can't wait a little." He was growling in earnest. "Will you pass
me those shoes?"

"No, we won't," announced Kit. He was getting angry, too.

"You pass me those shoes or something is liable to happen to you mighty
sudden. I'll break you in two."

"I'll get the rifle," said Jed, and started; but I called him back. We
didn't need a rifle.

"He can't do anything in bare feet like that," I said. And he couldn't.
His feet were too soft and burned. That is why we kept the shoes, of
course.

"I can't, eh?"

"No. We aren't afraid."

He started to stand, and then he sat back again.

"I'll put a hole in some of you," he muttered; and felt at the side of
his chest. But if he had carried a gun in a Texas holster there, it was
gone. "Say, you, what's the matter with you?" he queried. "What do you
want to keep me here for?"

"You'd better wait. We'll stay, too."

He glared at us. Then he began to wheedle.

"Say, what'd I ever do to you? Didn't I give you back that message, and
tell you all I knew? Didn't I help you out as much as I could?"

"Sure," we said.

"Then what have you got it in for me for?"

"We'd rather you'd wait till the Ranger or somebody comes along," I
explained.

He fumbled in a pants pocket.

"Lookee here," he offered. And he held it out. "Here's a twenty-dollar
gold piece. Take it and divvy it among you; and I'll go along and
nobody'll be the wiser."

"No, thanks," we said.

"I'll make it twenty apiece for each," he insisted. "Here they are. See?
Give me those shoes, and take these yellow bucks and go and have a good
time."

But we shook our heads, and had to laugh. He couldn't bluff us Scouts,
and he couldn't bribe us, either. He twisted and stood up, and we jumped
away, and Kit was ready to grab up the shoes and carry them across into
the burned timber where