ck!" said Huntington carelessly. And then, as if on
second thought: "But see here! You fellows look all right to me, and
if Haig's changed his mind, or hasn't got the cash handy, bring the
horse back here, and I'll talk business with you."

"Talk business now!" Smith blurted out, averting his eyes from
Larkin.

"Very well. I'll give you five hundred for him--if you don't want to
go any farther. He ain't worth it, but he's a kind of a curiosity,
and--"

"That ain't talkin' business worth a dam'!" cried Larkin. "Come along,
men!"

He turned his pony's head, and took a fresh grip on the halter that
held the prisoner. Smith moved also, though slowly, but Raley did not
budge.

"I'm damned if I go any further!" he growled.

Smith stopped, and looked uncertainly from Raley to Larkin, from
Larkin to Huntington, who was studying him craftily.

"The five hundred isn't wind," said Huntington sneeringly. "It's over
there in Thompson's safe, if you want it."

"We'll see Haig first," said Larkin, compressing his lips, and
speaking more to his companions than to Huntington.

Smith shifted uneasily in his saddle, while Raley avoided Larkin's
eyes, and looked appealingly at Huntington. The ranchman, in his
turn, took a sidelong glance, furtive and questioning, at the faces of
his neighbors. The moment was critical, and much more was involved in
the crisis than the possession of the golden outlaw. For a long time
Huntington had assumed a certain leadership in the Park, but it had
not always been unquestioned. His qualifications for leadership were
not as apparent to all his neighbors as they were to himself, and
there were some who even resented his pretensions. Nevertheless he
had, in a way, succeeded; and he had been permitted to represent the
entire valley as far as he liked in the war with Philip Haig. One and
all, indeed, regarded Haig as an intruder; many of them had more than
once threatened violence against him; and there was not among them one
whom Haig, if he had wanted a defender, could have counted on. Yet,
for all that, Huntington was practically alone in the depth of his
hatred and the violence of his methods. If Haig had no friends in the
Park, he had only a few, perhaps no more than two or three, inveterate
enemies, of whom Huntington was the active representative.

Huntington now saw in the faces of the men around him that they were
doubtful of him, and that the time was opportune to turn their
passivity in