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Updated: May 24, 2025
Why could not these miners, young and old, stay in their camps and keep their gold? That was the fatality. The pursuit was a dream a glittering allurement; the possession incited a lust for more, and that was madness. Joan felt that in these reckless, honest miners there was a liberation of the same wild element which was the driving passion of Kells's Border Legion.
Jesse Smith saw '49 and '51. He wouldn't send me word like this unless there was hell to pay.... Come on!" He strode off down the slope with the men close around him, and they met other men on the way, all of whom crowded into the group, jostling, eager, gesticulating. Joan was left alone. She felt considerably perturbed, especially at Kells's sharp inquiry for Jim Cleve.
But they had escaped the stream. Below was a strange sight. A scaffold shrouded in dust-clouds; a band of bewildered vigilantes with weapons drawn, waiting for they knew not what; three swinging, ghastly forms and a dead man on the platform; and all below, a horde of men trying to escape from one another. That shot of Kells's had precipitated a rush.
The other men of this contingent one by one complied with Kells's requirements. This action left Gulden and his group to be dealt with. "Gulden, are you still on the fence?" demanded Kells, coolly. The giant strode stolidly forward to the table. As always before to Joan, he seemed to be a ponderous hulk, slow, heavy, plodding, with a mind to match.
Still Joan knew that she dared not trust him, any more than Pearce or the others. Their raw emotions would undergo a change if Kells's possession of her were transferred to them. It occurred to Joan, however, that she might use Wood's friendliness to some advantage. "So I'm to be locked up?" she asked. "You're supposed to be." "Without any one to talk to?" "Wal, you'll hev me, when you want.
There was a long room, with stone fireplace, rude benches and a table, skins and blankets on the floor, and lanterns and weapons on the wall. At one end Joan saw a litter of cooking utensils and shelves of supplies. Suddenly Kells's impatient voice silenced the clamor of questions. "I'm not hurt," he said. "I'm all right only weak and tired.
She gathered that Kells's fame as the master bandit of the whole gold region of Idaho, Nevada, and northeastern California was a fame that he loved as much as the gold he stole. Joan sensed, through the replies of these men and their attitude toward Kells, that his power was supreme.
He had gone too far realized it too late. "She meets a man back there at her window," he panted. "They whisper in the dark for hours. I've watched an' heard them. An' I'd told you before, but I wanted to make sure who he was.... I know him now!... An' remember I seen him climb in an' out " Kells's whole frame leaped. His gun was a flash of blue and red and white all together.
She was in distress over his unfortunate situation, but she had no fear that he meant to carry out Kells's plan. This was a critical time for Jim, and therefore for her. She had no idea what Jim could do; all she thought was what he would not do. Kells gazed triumphantly at Pearce. "I told you the youngster would stand by me. I never put him on a job before."
That broke the waiting, the watchfulness, but not the tense eagerness. The bandits were now like leashed hounds. Blicky leaned before Kells and hit the table with his fist. "Boss, I've a kick comin'," he said. "Come on with it," replied the leader. "Ain't Gulden a-goin' to divide up thet big nugget?" "He is if he's square." A chorus of affirmatives from the bandits strengthened Kells's statement.
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