Instinctively he felt that the presence of these men meant him no good, and he made up his mind not to place himself in their power till a.s.sured that they were friendly.

The two hors.e.m.e.n with Frank Shirley and Badger were the landlord of the hotel at Hurley's, and a wretched creature of the same stripe who had been a partner and friend of Tom Edwards.

"Halloo! Halloo, Sam Willett! We've come out to find you!" called out Shirley when he came within hearing distance.

"Who sent you?" was Sam's salutation.

"Your father."

"How did he know I was here?"

"Ulna told him."

"Then why didn't he or Hank Tims come?"

"There are good reasons why they could not get off, so we have come in their stead. Get down from the rocks; we've been searching for you since before daylight," said Shirley, as he and Badger dismounted from their horses not a hundred feet away.

Slipping into one of the excavations so that he could see what was going on below without exposing himself, Sam called down:

"Frank Shirley, my father never sent you to find me."

"What! do you think Mr. Shirley's a-lyin'?" shouted Badger, at the same time unstringing his rifle and a.s.suming a position as if about to fire.

"Yes, I do," said Sam boldly.

Badger would have fired, though Sam was out of sight had not Shirley laid his hand on his arm and said pleadingly:

"Don't do that, Badger; you'll spill all the fat in the fire. That young fellow has a rifle, and he knows how to use it."

Sam heard all this distinctly and he called out:

"Yes, and I will use it if you fellows don't get back and mount your horses while I count ten. One, two, three, four--"

Neither Shirley nor Badger waited to hear more, for as "one" was called out they saw the muzzle of a rifle pointing down at them from the top of the rock.

With the alacrity of acrobats the two men scrambled into their saddles, and as they did so the word "Two!" rang out.

"There, you see, we want to humor you, and if we were not friends we shouldn't do that," said Frank Shirley, trembling in voice and frame from his recent effort.

Sam's reply showed that he had no faith in this.

"My rifle is good for a half-mile. If you are within reach in ten minutes I'll begin to fire."

"See h'ar, young feller," called out Badger, "do you know what I think of you?"

"No, and I don't care."

"I think you're a devil."

"All right. Start, for the ten minutes have begun."

The four men did start. It would have been nothing less than suicide, the landlord said, to remain there and be shot at, "more particlar whin there was no show to shoot back."

Sullenly the men rode off, and when they had gone out of rifle-reach they came to a halt, and after much swearing all round, Shirley asked:

"Well, gentlemen, what's to be done next?"

"Nothing, till dark," said Badger.

"And what then?"

"Then we ken get at 'em."

"But how?"

"While two of us shoot at the front of the rock to attract 'em, two others can climb up behind and finish the job for good," said Badger.

CHAPTER x.x.xIII.-IN A TRAP.

From his lookout Sam kept a constant watch on the four hors.e.m.e.n, and he made up his mind from their movements that they were not going back without letting him hear from them again.

"W'at you tink now, 'bout dis time?" asked Ike, who, with Wah Shin, had crept up from one of the excavations to Sam's side.

"I think, Ike, that those men are not our friends," said Sam, pointing to the distant group.

"Dat's jest how I feel. De worl' wouldn't be no wuss off if de earf was to open up an' swaller all dem men an' den come shut agin, like a rat-trap, Mistah Sam! Do you know what I tinks?"

"What is it, Ike?"

"W'en we wuz down in dem canyons, wif de watah all round us an' dem dar big rocks shootin' away up till dey 'peahed to go right frue de sky, den we tinked we wuz in a pooty bad fix, didn't we?"

"So we did, Ike."

"An' den again, w'en we fell in wif dem savage Injuns an' it appeahed as ef dey was bound to hab our skelps, den we tinked as how we wuz in a heap sight wuss fix'n eber?"

"Yes, Ike."

"An' we kinder wished we wuz back in de canyons?"

"That is true."

"Wa'al, does yeh know w'at I tinks now?"

"What is it, Ike?"