the exact location of this rival of the
Comstock lode. The aged man was tied hand and foot and beaten and
abused the whole night long. In pushing splinters under his toenails,
the lamp was upset, kerosene was spilled over his feet to catch fire.
A quarrel ensued as to whether the fire should be extinguished or
allowed to burn. A fist-fight developed and they abandoned the cabin,
leaving Maddy to his fate.

"It was young Byron Goff that found me," concluded the aged narrator.
"I recognized his voice when I came to, the next day. He was looking
for lost sheep and stopped to inquire. He took me to his home,
doctored me, cared for me, and brought me home. I owe him my life, not
only for the rescue, but for his kindly nursing. Due to him, my feet
will be all right in a few days. While he would accept nothing from
Mrs. Carter, we've got a plan to part-pay him for his kindness."

The disclosures as made by Maddy, awakened much interest among the
five dwellers of Pinnacle Point. Mrs. Gillis arranged for the evening
meal at the Gillis home where plans could be made to thwart an
invader. Landy and Davy rode their horses to the Gillis barn; Welborn
and Gillis came later in the car. It was following the meal that the
problem was talked over in detail.

It was agreed by all that the invader would come in his car; there was
no other way. He would have to come to the filling station to gain the
roadway to Pinnacle Point. He would have to pass the Gillis cabin and
a warning could be phoned if a wire was strung from the Gillis home to
Welborn's cabin. But in that case the wire would have to be extended
to reach the mine as Welborn was up in that canyon during the day. Jim
proposed a fence across the road with an electric alarm on it when the
gate was opened. Landy suggested felling a tree across the road at a
narrow place and thus reduce the uses of the thoroughfare to journeys
on horseback; Davy offered to keep watch at a favorable place where he
could shoot the tires of the intruder's auto.

Welborn took but little part in the discussions. As the conversation
lagged he briefly summarized the situation. "This gangster is a killer
all right and drink and dope may have overcome the usual cautions of
the breed. All of 'em are cowards; they prefer unarmed victims that
are hog-tied. Sometime in his career this buzzard was the killer for
some liquor gang. He evidently double-crossed his associates in
getting this money that he's spending