he can go get it when
I give him the directions; and I hope he gets it soon because then
there'll be just three less grafters, to rob honest prospectors of their
rights."

He advanced upon Lapham, his great head thrust out as he followed his
squirming flight through the crowd; and when he was gone he turned upon
Eells who stood his ground with insolent courage.

"And you, you big slob," he went on threateningly, "you don't need to
think you'll git off. I ain't afraid of your gun-man, and I ain't afraid
of you, and before we get through I'm going to _git_ you. Well,
laugh if you want to--it's your scalp or mine--and you can jest politely
go to hell."

He snapped his fingers in his face and, taking a sack in both hands,
started off to the Wells Fargo office; and, so intimidated for once were
Eells and his gun-fighter, that neither one followed along after him.
Wunpost deposited his treasure in the Express Company's safe and went
off to care for his animals and, while the crowd dispersed to the
several saloons, Eells and Lapham went into conference. This sudden glib
quoting of moot points of law was a new and disturbing factor, and
Lapham himself was quite unstrung over the news of the buried retainer.
It had all the earmarks of a criminal lawyer's work, this tender
solicitude for his fee; and some shysters that Lapham knew would even
encourage their client to violence, if it would bring them any nearer to
the gold. But this gold--where did it come from? Could it possibly be
high-graded, in spite of all the testimony to the contrary? And if not,
if his claim that it was stolen was a blind, then how could they
discover its whereabouts? Certainly not by force of law, and not by any
violence--they must resort to guile, the old cunning of the serpent,
which now differentiates man from the beasts of the field, and perhaps
they could get Wunpost drunk!

Happy thought! The wires were laid and all Blackwater joined in with
them, in fact it was the universal idea, and even the new barkeeper with
whom Wunpost had struck up an acquaintance had promised to do his part.
To get Wunpost drunk and then to make him boast, to pique him by
professed doubts of his great find; and then when he spilled it, as he
had always done before, the wild rush and another great boom! They
watched his every move as he put his animals in a corral and stored his
packs and saddles; and when, in the evening, he drifted back to The
Mint, man after man tri