his partner, facing once again toward the
"Independence." Then he readjusted the tubes, and passed them over to
his silent companion.

"Just see what you make out o' it, Mr. Winston; ye 're some younger,
an' yer eyes ought ter be a heap better 'n mine."

The young engineer, his heart already beginning to throb with the
excitement of an unaccustomed position of danger, ran the lenses
carefully back and forth from the half-concealed bunk-house to the
nearer ore-dump, searching for every sign of life. Whatever emotion
swayed him, there was not the slightest tremor to the steady hands
supporting the levelled tubes.

"They have certainly got together a considerable number of men," he
reported, the glass still at his eyes. "Roughs the most of them look
to be, from their clothes. The largest number are grouped in between
the shaft-house and the dump, but there must be a dozen or fifteen down
below at the edge of those cedars. Farnham is at the shaft-house--no,
he and another fellow have just started down the dump, walking this
way. Now they have gone into the cedars, and are coming straight
through. What's up, do you suppose--negotiations?"

"I 'm damned if I know," returned the old miner, staring blankly.
"This whole thing kinder jiggers me. Maybe he thinks he kin skeer us
out by a good brand o' talk. He 's a bit o' a bluffer, that Farnham."

The two watchers waited in breathless expectancy, leaning on their
loaded Winchesters, their eyes eagerly fastened on the concealing
cedars. Behind where they remained in the open, yet within easy
rifle-shot, the heads of Brown and Old Mike rose cautiously above the
rock rampart of their natural fort. Suddenly two men, walking abreast,
emerged from out the shadow of the wood, and came straight toward them
across the open ridge of rocks. They advanced carelessly, making no
effort to pick their path, and in apparently utter indifference to any
possible peril. The one was Farnham, his slender form erect, his
shoulders squared, his hat pushed jauntily back so as to reveal fully
the smoothly shaven face. The other bent slightly forward as he
walked, his wide brim drawn low over his eyes, leaving little visible
except the point of a closely trimmed beard. He was heavily built, and
a "45" dangled conspicuously at his hip. If Farnham bore arms they
were concealed beneath the skirt of his coat. Watching them approach,
Winston's eyes became threatening, his hands involuntaril