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absolutely square. He's lied to me about Creede. But I can excuse
that. He lost his nerve. He's only a youngster. To knife a man in
his sleep--that was too much for Jim! ... And I'm glad! I see it all
now. Jim's swapped his big nugget for Creede's belt. And in the
bargain he exacted that Creede hit the trail out of camp. You
happened to see Creede and went after him yourself. ... Well, I
don't see where you've any kick coming. For you've ten times the
money in Cleve's nugget that there was in a share of Creede's gold."
"That's not my kick," declared Gulden. "What you say about Cleve may
be true. But I don't believe it. And the gang is sore. Things have
leaked out. We're watched. We're not welcome in the gambling-places
any more. Last night I was not allowed to sit in the game at
Belcher's."
"You think Cleve has squealed?" queried Kells.
"Yes."
"I'll bet you every ounce of dust I've got that you're wrong,"
declared Kells. "A straight, square bet against anything you want to
put up!"
Kells's ringing voice was nothing if not convincing.
"Appearances are against Cleve," growled Gulden, dubiously. Always
he had been swayed by the stronger mind of the leader.
"Sure they are," agreed Kells.
"Then what do you base your confidence on?"
"Just my knowledge of men. Jim Cleve wouldn't squeal. ... Gulden,
did anybody tell you that?"
"Yes," replied Gulden, slowly. "Red Pearce."
"Pearce was a liar," said Kells, bitterly. "I shot him for lying to
me."
Gulden stared. His men muttered and gazed at one another and around
the cabin.
"Pearce told me you set Cleve to kill me," suddenly spoke up the
giant.
If he expected to surprise Kells he utterly failed.
"That's another and bigger lie," replied the bandit leader,
disgustedly. "Gulden, do you think my mind's gone?"
"Not quite," replied Gulden, and he seemed as near a laugh as was
possible for him.
"Well, I've enough mind left not to set a boy to kill such a man as
you."
Gulden might have been susceptible to flattery. He turned to his
men. They, too, had felt Kells's subtle influence. They were ready
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to veer round like weather-vanes.
"Red Pearce has cashed, an' he can't talk for himself," said Beady
Jones, as if answering to the unspoken thought of all.
"Men, between you and me, I had more queer notions about Pearce than
Cleve," announced Gulden, gruffly. "But I never said so because I
had no proof."
"Red shore was sore an' strange lately," added Chick Williams. "Me
an' him were pretty thick once--but not lately."
The giant Gulden scratched his head and swore. Probably he had no
sense of justice and was merely puzzled.
"We're wastin' a lot of time," put in Beard, anxiously. "Don't
fergit there's somethin' comin' off down in camp, an' we ain't sure
what."
"Bah! Haven't we heard whispers of vigilantes for a week?" queried
Gulden.
Then some one of the men looked out of the door and suddenly
whistled.
"Who's thet on a hoss?"
Gulden's gang crowded to the door.
"Thet's Handy Oliver."
"No!"
"Shore is. I know him. But it ain't his hoss. ... Say, he's
hurryin'."
Low exclamations of surprise and curiosity followed. Kells and his
men looked attentively, but no one spoke. The clatter of hoofs on
the stony road told of a horse swiftly approaching--pounding to a
halt before the cabin.
"Handy! ... Air you chased? ... What's wrong? ... You shore look pale
round the gills." These and other remarks were flung out the door.
"Where's Kells? Let me in," replied Oliver, hoarsely.
The crowd jostled and split to admit the long, lean Oliver. He
stalked straight toward Kells, till the table alone stood between
them. He was gray of face, breathing hard, resolute and stern.
"Kells, I throwed--you--down!" he said, with outstretched hand. It
was a gesture of self-condemnation and remorse.
"What of that?" demanded Kells, with his head leaping like the
strike of an eagle.
"I'm takin' it back!"
Kells met the outstretched hand with his own and wrung it. "Handy, I
never knew you to right--about--face. But I'm glad. ... What's
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changed you so quickly?"
"VIGILANTES!"
Kells's animation and eagerness suddenly froze. "VIGILANTES!" he
ground out.
"No rumor, Kells, this time. I've sure some news. ... Come close,
all you fellows. You, Gulden, come an' listen. Here's where we git
together closer'n ever."
Gulden surged forward with his group. Handy Oliver was surrounded by
pale, tight faces, dark-browed and hardeyed.
He gazed at them, preparing them for a startling revelation. "Men,
of all the white-livered traitors as ever was Red Pearce was the
worst!" he declared, hoarsely.
No one moved or spoke.
"AN' HE WAS A VIGILANTE!"
A low, strange sound, almost a roar, breathed through the group.
"Listen now an' don't interrupt. We ain't got a lot of time. ... So
never mind how I happened to find out about Pearce. It was all
accident, an' jest because I put two an' two together. ... Pearce
was approached by one of this secret vigilante band, an' he planned
to sell the Border Legion outright. There was to be a big stake in
it for him. He held off day after day, only tippin' off some of the
gang. There's Dartt an' Singleton an' Frenchy an' Texas all caught
red-handed at jobs. Pearce put the vigilantes to watchin' them jest
to prove his claim. ... Aw! I've got the proofs! Jest wait. Listen
to me! ... You all never in your lives seen a snake like Red Pearce.
An' the job he had put up on us was grand. To-day he was to squeal
on the whole gang. You know how he began on Kells--an' how with his
oily tongue he asked a guarantee of no gun-play. But he figgered
Kells wrong for once. He accused Kells's girl an' got killed for his
pains. Mebbe it was part of his plan to git the girl himself.
Anyway, he had agreed to betray the Border Legion to-day. An' if he
hadn't been killed by this time we'd all be tied up, ready for the
noose! ... Mebbe thet wasn't a lucky shot of the boss's. Men, I was
the first to declare myself against Kells, an' I'm here now to say
thet I was a fool. So you've all been fools who've bucked against
him. If this ain't provin' it, what can!
"But I must hustle with my story. ... They was havin' a trial down
at the big hall, an' thet place was sure packed. No diggin' gold to-
day! ... Think of what thet means for Alder Creek. I got inside
where I could stand on a barrel an' see. Dartt an' Singleton an'
Frenchy an' Texas was bein' tried by a masked court. A man near me
said two of them had been proved guilty. It didn't take long to make
out a case against Texas an' Frenchy. Miners there recognized them
an' identified them. They was convicted an' sentenced to be hung! ..
Then the offer was made to let them go free out of the border if
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