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The muzzle had been pointed skyward, however, and both charges of buckshot had been driven off into space, to fall to the earth many yards beyond. "Reade! Hazelton!" choked Rafe Bodson, leaping forward. "You fellows certainly have grit! Jeff, in the meantime had rolled Jim Duff over on his back, then sat on him.
"Get it out in your hand, then, before, you talk to me any more in that fashion." "He won't," mocked Tom. "He doesn't dare, Bodson. Your hands are not tied." "Cut it out, Rafe! Quit it!" ordered one of the other men in the crowd. "We won't let this tenderfoot split our ranks. You're one of us, and you'll stand by us."
But some of the rest of us have different ideas as to how a helpless enemy ought to be treated." "You, Rafe Bodson!" snarled Duff, turning on the last speaker. "Are you one of us? Do you belong to our side, or are you a spy for the other crowd?" "Got your gun with you, Duff?" inquired Bodson calmly. "Yes," snapped the gambler.
Courage belongs in some fellows, no matter where they work." "The fighting seems to be over," observed Jeff Moore. "Then the friends of the two engineers must have found them," suggested Bodson. "It doesn't sound like it over there. The newcomers seem to be doing a lot of hunting in the gully." "Let's move in closer," proposed Rafe. Crawling on their stomachs, the pair moved in closer.
"If that's the pleasure of the gentlemen," Bodson agreed, bowing slightly. To the gambler it seemed the opportune moment to rush matters. "Bring up lariats, two of you," Duff ordered, turning around to the others. "And don't waste time over it." The rawhide ropes were brought. The gambler himself tied the nooses, testing them to see that they ran freely.
"Gentlemen," he demanded coldly, "for what purpose did you bring these young fellows out here?" "To lynch 'em!" came the hoarse murmur. "Then go ahead and do it, like men," ordered Bodson. "There are the trees. You have your ropes, and your men are ready. Remember, no cowardly treatment of young fellows whose hands are tied. Go on with the lynching and get it over with!" "Sir!
"Bring Reade and Hazelton under the trees," was Duff's next order, which was obeyed. Bodson and Moore, their weapons still in their hands, followed, keeping keen watch over the way the affair was conducted. "Any choice of trees Reade?" inquired Jin Duff. "None," answered Tom shortly. His face was pallid and set, though he did not show any other sign of fear. "Hazelton?"
"Jim, you're a good deal of a sneak, aren't you?" inquired Rafe, in a voice that sounded pleasant enough, but which carried a warning in its tone. "Yes," Duff admitted. "I guess I'm a good deal of a sneak." "Get up on your feet, then. We understand one another," said Bodson. "Go ahead, if you want to, and carry out your plans for a merry evening.
"Not unless we have to do so remember!" ordered the gambler. "We want, if possible, to take 'em alive." Let us now go back to the two men whom Duff and Ashby were watching so closely. They were Rafe Bodson and Jeff Moore. Both had come out of the recent fighting unharmed. Neither Rafe nor Jeff had fired a shot at the invading forces led by Hawkins.
"Pump both of your shooting-irons loose into the air I'll do the rest," replied Moore. Cr-r-r-rack! Pointing his weapons skyward, Bodson had quickly obeyed Moore's command. "Now, what " began one of the raiders, wheeling instantly. "Rafe's going to give 'em a proper send off," grinned one of Duff's men. "No!" shouted the other. "That's a bluff. He and Jeff are trying to queer the whole game."
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