who had rushed out at the rumor of his approach, drew
up his lip and glared at him hatefully.

"You're a criminal!" he bellowed, "I could have you jailed for
this--that Stinging Lizard mine was salted!"

"The hell you say!" shrilled Wunpost and then he laughed uproariously
while he did a little jig in his stirrups. "Yeee--hoo!" he yelled, "say,
that's pretty good! Have you any idee who done it?"

"You did it!" answered Eells, "and I could have you arrested for it,
only I don't want to have any trouble. But you agreed to leave town and
now I see you're back--what's the meaning of this, Mr. Calhoun?"

"Too slow inside," complained Mr. Calhoun, who was sporting a brand-new
outfit, "so I thought I'd come back and shake hands with my friends and
take another look at my mine. Costs money to live in Los Angeles and I
bought me a dog--looky here, cost me eight hundred dollars!"

He reached down into a nest which he had hollowed out of the pack and
held up a wilted fox terrier, and as Eells stood speechless he dropped
it back into its cubby-hole and laid a loving hand on the mule.

"How's this for a mule?" he enquired ingenuously, "cost me five hundred
dollars in Barstow. Fastest walker in the West--picked him out on
purpose--and my pack mule can carry four hundred. How much did you lose
on the Stinging Lizard?"

"I lost over thirty thousand dollars, with the road work and all,"
answered Eells with ponderous exactitude, and Wunpost laughed again.

"Thirty thousand!" he echoed. "I wish it was a million! But you can't
say that I didn't warn you!"

"Warn me!" raged Eells, "you did nothing of the kind. It was a
deliberate attempt to defraud me."

"Aw, cripes," scoffed Wunpost, "you can't win all the time--why don't
you take your medicine like a sport? Didn't I name the danged hole The
Stinging Lizard? Well, there was your warning--but you got stung!"

He laughed heartily at the joke and looked up the street, ignoring the
staring crowd.

"Well, got to go!" he said. "Where _is_ that road you built--like
to go up and take a look at it!"

"It extends up Jail Canyon," returned the banker grimly. "I understand
Mr. Campbell is using it."

"Pretty work!" exclaimed Wunpost, "won't be wasted, anyhow. That'll come
in right handy for Cole. Why didn't you buy the old hassayamper out?"

"He won't sell!" grumbled Eells, "say, come in here a minute--I've got
something I want to talk over."

He led the way into his inner office,