"Reach out an'
grab them. But say your prayers before you do--you an' that sufferin'
monolith with the underbrush scattered all over his mug. Come an' take
them!" He jeered as he saw Neal Taggart's face whiten. "Hell!" he
added as he saw the elder Taggart make a negative motion toward his
son, "you ain't got no clear thoughts just at this minute, eh?"

"We ain't aimin' to force trouble," growled the older man. "We're just
curious, that's what. Also, there's a chance that we can settle this
thing peaceable. We want to palaver. If you'll give your word that
there won't be no gun-play until after the peace meetin' is over, you
can take your hands down."

"No shootin' goes right now," agreed Calumet. "But after this peace
meetin'--"

"We ought to come to terms," said Taggart, placing his rifle in the
saddle holster as Calumet's hands came down. "There hadn't ought to be
any bad blood between us. Me an' your dad was a heap friendly until we
had a fallin' out over that she-devil which he lived with--Ezela."
There was an insincere grin on his face.

It was plain to Calumet that the elder Taggart had some ulterior motive
in suggesting a peace conference. He noted that while Taggart talked
his eyes kept roving around the clearing as though in search of
something. That something, Calumet divined, was Sharp and Telza. He
suspected that Calumet had seen Telza and Sharp, or one of them, enter
the clearing, and had followed them. Neal had said that they had seen
Calumet when he had been racing up and down the river trail; they had
suspected he had been after Sharp or Telza, and had followed him. No
doubt they were afflicted with a great curiosity. They were playing
for time in order to discover his errand.

"I reckon we'll get along without mushin'," suggested Calumet. "What
terms are you talkin' about?"

Taggart climbed down from his pony and stood beside it.

"Half-an'-half on the idol," he said. "That's square, ain't it?" He
looked at Calumet with the beginning of a bland smile, which instantly
faded and turned into a grimace of fear as he found himself looking
into the gaping muzzles of Calumet's pistols, which had appeared with
magic ease and quickness.

"I'm runnin' a little surprise party of my own," declared Calumet.
"Was you thinkin' I was fool enough to go to gassin' with you, trustin'
that you wouldn't take your chance to perforate me? You've got another
guess comin'."

The disappointed g