"And you will also pledge your honor, as a gentleman, to do that?" said Sam.

"Oh, I'll swear to it," said the landlord.

"Thanks, but the security being false and worthless, I must decline your offer," said Sam, surprised at his own coolness and his ready command of language.

"Then you won't come down?" from Shirley.

"Thanks, not to-night."

"Sam Willett!"

"Yes; Frank Shirley!"

"Are you crazy?"

"No, I'm mad; and you'll find I'm dangerous if you bother me further,"

said Sam stoutly.

"See har, young feller," shouted Badger. "If you don't want us to save you, do you know what we'll do next?"

"I don't."

"Why, we'll get mad, too--"

"I don't care."

"And," continued Badger, his voice choking with anger, "we'll go up thar and fotch you down; and if so be you git hurt, it'll be yer own fault."

"Hurt?" from Sam.

"Yes, and hurted purty bad, too."

"What's your name?"

"My name's Badger. I'm a terror, I am. I was nussed on blizzards, and rocked by tornadoes. I live on rattlesnakes and horned toads, and when I'm riled its wuss nor a earthquake. Now you are gettin' my dander riz, so come down, for if I have to climb up after you, you'll git hurt."

Badger certainly thought that this fierce speech would have a most depressing effect upon the youth in command of the rock, great therefore was his anger and disappointment when he received this reply.

"Before I am hurt some one else will be in the same fix, for I and my companions propose to defend ourselves."

"But why defend yourselves," said Shirley, "when we mean you nothing but good."

"I do not care to give my reasons; but I'll tell you what I've been thinking ever since I started to reach Hurley's Gulch."

"What's that?"

"That you and the one-eyed ruffian who travels with you are the cause of all my father's troubles--"

"That's a lie!" roared Badger.

Sam continued as if he had not heard the interruption.

"And I believe it was you two who killed that wretch, Tom Edwards, in order to get us into a sc.r.a.pe-yes, to get us out of the way. Now get back, or come on, just as you please."

Sam said this in a way that convinced the man below that his resolution could not be shaken, and that any attempt to oust him from his stronghold by force would be met with resistance to the death.

"That young devil up thar's a chip of the old block," hissed Badger.

"Why, cuss him, he talks jist like his father. Do you know what my opinion of them two is, Mr. Shirley?"

"What?"

"That they're the hardest, toughest cases I've met up with in my five-and-forty years of mixin' among all cla.s.ses. Sich people hadn't ought to be let live among decent folks."

"I've seed boys in my time, hundreds and thousands of 'em," said the disgusted landlord, "but that young feller up on top of that rock, for downright gall and bitterness, and bull-headedness, lays over anything I ever saw, heard or red of."

"It is evident to me that Sam Willett will fight; now what are we to do?" asked Shirley in despair, for all prospect of succeeding by "strategy" was gone.

"We must carry out my plan," said Badger.

"What's that?"

"We've got to go back to first principles, jist as I supposed we would when you got talkin' 'bout mildness and strategy--"

"Explain yourself, Badger."

"You and me must face the music, Mr. Shirley."

"Face the music?" stammered Shirley.

"Yes, thar's nothin' else to be did."

"Explain yourself, Badger."

"You and me must creep up the rock on the other side, while Jake and Ned stand off to the east and keep up a fire on the top, so as to distract attention from the p'int we're after. Do you see?"

Shirley said he saw very clearly; but from his manner it was very evident he did not look with approval on this plan of a.s.sault.

Physically and morally Frank Shirley was a coward, and though he tried to hide this fact from others, he could not hide it from himself.

But even cowards will fight desperately for their lives, and all Shirley's future, if not his very existence, depended on the success of this monstrous undertaking.

If he failed, then he was an impoverished outcast with the stain of murder on his soul, though all the chances were that if Sam Willett was permitted to reach Hurley's Gulch, the vigilantes would arrest himself and Badger for the death of Tom Edwards.

Quickly he looked over the situation, and his cowardly heart took on a show of courage; it was the courage of desperation, as he realized how much depended on his conduct this night.

"I can't say that I'm much of a fighter, having had no experience that way," said Shirley with a tremor in his voice. "But, Badger, if you lead the way, I'll follow to the end. We must finish this job to-night."

"If we don't it'll finish us," said Badger grimly.