boys, if you're wise," he said.
"There'll sure be trouble if you come out again."

The men did not come out, but there was a smashing of undergrowth as
two more came running up. They were visible for a moment as they
sprang out into the open space between the willows and the first of
the firs, and then apparently they saw Saunders, for they plunged back
among the trees. The storekeeper sank down behind the fern.

"It's quite a good light, and one of them might have a pistol," he
explained half aloud.

Devine considered this very probable; and when there was no sign of
their opponents during the next few minutes he once more became
conscious that his heart was beating unpleasantly fast. The jumpers
apparently had vanished altogether, but he fancied that they were
considering some plan of attack. By and by, a voice came out of the
shadows.

"There's the post close up against the fern," it said.

"That," remarked Saunders, dryly, "is going to put a hustle on to some
of them."

He was right, for a moment later a man stepped out into the moonlight.

"Put down your gun. We want to talk," he said.

"Then," replied Saunders, who did not stand up, "go ahead; but you'll
stop in the light; and if you feel like sending any of your partners
to work a traverse round this bunch of fern, you can remember that
I've got the forehead plumb on--you."

The man's gesture indicated that he understood the situation, and,
though he had jumped for cover a little earlier, as most men in his
place would have done, it was evident that he was a courageous rogue.

"I want to tell you that there are four of us, and we've come up quite
a way to shift that post for you," he said. "There's no use making
trouble, for it has to be done."

Saunders touched his companion's shoulder.

"Chip in," he said softly. "Talk like a land agent trying to sell a
ranch. We've got to keep this crowd quiet. The boys can't be far off."

Devine agreed with his last statement. The moonlight was bright enough
for one to travel by, at least in the brulee, and he was sufficiently
acquainted with western human nature to feel certain that every man in
the settlement would have started when he heard of their discovery,
and, what was more to the purpose, would not waste a moment on the
journey. Men going up to a new gold strike do not, as a rule, trouble
themselves about want of sleep or weariness. On the other hand, he did
not think they could possibly arrive before