house, where the wild threats could not be heard by those who might
report them at the store.

After the greetings with Mrs. Byram the travelers went to the chamber
where Bill lay helpless, his fractured limb bound in splints and
bandages.

Here the different stories were told again, and the invalid's
astonishment was not less than that of his companions.

"It don't hardly seem reasonable," he muttered, after a long pause. "I
reckon the best thing would be for you an' Fred to see the lawyer right
away. There's no knowin' what kind of a scrape may grow out of this."

"It'll do jest as well if we go in the mornin' on the first train," Joe
replied. "After the tramp we've had it comes kinder natural to hanker
for a bed."

"I s'pose it would be tough; but don't waste any time to-morrow."

"Wright can't do much between now an' then, so rest easy, mate. They
won't be able to take the land from us, an' in another year we'll be
among the big-bugs ourselves."

"Are you sure the trade can't be backed out of?"

"I've left everything with the lawyer, and he'll fix matters about
right."

Bill closed his eyes as if in thought; Fred went down stairs to talk
with his mother, and Skip took his departure, Joe saying as he
accompanied him to the door:

"We won't forget what you've done, lad, an' before long us four--that's
countin' Sam--will be in condition to pay off our scores."

"I'll have all I want when the fellers I buried in the mine promise to
forget what's been done."

"Then you can rest easy, for the matter was settled yesterday when you
brought the grub."

After Skip left Joe went out to see his friends, and an hour later he
returned in a perfect rage.

"That villain of a cashier has taken good care to tell his side of the
story," he exclaimed, bursting into the invalid's room, "an' more'n half
the men I've seen believe we got the money from Sam to stick the robbery
on that thievin' Gus. Mr. Wright has taken the boy up to his house, an'
is pettin' him like a prince, I s'pose, to square off for what we did to
him. Why, even Donovan says old man Dobson oughter prosecute us for the
outrage, as he calls it."

"I can't believe it!" Bill cried, trying in vain to rise to a sitting
posture.

"I'm tellin' the truth, all the same. There's a big excitement in town,
an' I wouldn't be surprised if Fred was arrested in the mornin', spite
of what he's done."

"Don't the folks know what kind of a boy that Dobson feller is