"Yes, that's what I said. Why, do you know anything about them galoots,
Bob?"

"Do I? Well, I reckon I do! I had ther chance ter see 'em a couple of
times down in Prescott, Arizona. I belonged ter a gang near there, which
got cleaned out by them same three galoots yer jest spoke of. I got away
jest by ther skin of my teeth, an' I was mighty thankful fur it, yer kin
bet! Young Wild West ain't nothin' but a boy, an' neither is one of his
pards. But ther three of 'em makes ther toughest proposition I ever
seen. So they're here, are they? Well, I wish they wasn't, fur it means
bad fur us. I'll bet they'll be lookin' fur us afore many hours!"

"Oh, yes. There ain't no mistake about that part of it. They'll be
lookin' fur us. What do yer s'pose Young Wild West told me as we left
Big Bonanza?"

"I don't know. What was it?"

"He said if we seen any outlaws in Furbidden Pass ter tell 'em that he
was lookin' fur 'em."

Bob shook his head and showed that he felt very uneasy.

"I know how it'll be," he said, half to himself, "We're in fur it now.
That boy has got more lives than a cat, an' when he shoots he kills
every time. He's ther luckiest galoot what ever tried ter do a thing,
an' if he has made up his mind ter clean us out yer kin bet he'll do
it!"

"Pshaw!" spoke up one of the others. "That's all foolishness. Jest
because these galoots you're talkin' about happened ter clean out ther
gang you belonged to in Arizony, don't say that they're goin' ter do
anything like that with us. What did I hear yer say--that Young Wild
West is only a boy?"

"That's all he is," Bob answered. "But he kin do more than any man I
ever seen."

"An' there's only three of 'em?"

"Yes."

"An' there's another boy?"

"That's right."

"Well, what is ther third galoot?"

"He's a man--a big, powerful one, with no mercy when he gits after a
crook."

"Oh, he's man, eh?' I thought maybe he might be a woman," and the outlaw
chuckled.

Nearly all of them laughed at this.

But it was plain that the villain called Bob was very uneasy over what
he had heard.

And Chuck Snivel and the two who had accompanied him to Big Bonanza were
not in a jolly mood, either.

Their experience with the Champion Deadshot and his partners had been
quite enough to make them understand that they had struck a proposition
that was a little different from what they were in the habit of facing.

While they were talking over it a horseman rode into the cave.