the right bunch together an' go down to the
wool-warehouse an' save the grand jury the trouble."

The other stared at him in amazement: "You mean bust him out?"

Tex laughed: "Sure. Lord! Won't it be fun seein' Sam Moore puttin' up
a scrap to save his prisoner?"

"But, how'd we git away with him? All Sam w'd do is git a posse an'
take out after him an' they'd round him up 'fore he got to Three-mile.
Or if we went along we'd git further but they'd git us in the end an'
then we'd be in a hell of a fix!"

"Your head don't hurt you none, workin' it that way, does it?" grinned
Tex. "I done thought it all out. We'll get the boys an' slip down to
the warehouse an' take the pilgrim out an' slip a noose around his neck
an' set him on a horse an' ride out of town a-cussin' him an'
a-swearin' to lynch him. He won't know but what we aim to hang him to
the first likely cottonwood, an' we'll have a lot of fun with him. An'
no one else won't know it, neither. Then you-all ride back an' pertend
to keep mum, but leak it out that we done hung him. They won't be no
posse hunt for him then an' I'll take him an' slip him acrost to the N.
P. or the C. P. R. an' let him go. It's too good a chanct to miss.
Lordy! Won't the pilgrim beg! An' Sam Moore--he'll be scairt out of a
year's growth!"

"But, the girl," objected Curly.

"Oh, the girl--well, they'll turn her loose, of course. They ain't
nothin' on her except for a witness. An' if they ain't no prisoner
they won't need no witness, will they?"

"That's right," assented the other. "By gosh, Tex, what you can't
think up, the devil wouldn't bother with. That's sure some stunt.
Let's get the boys an' go to it!"

"You get the boys together. Get about twenty of the live ones an' head
'em over to the Headquarters. I'll go hunt up a horse for the pilgrim
an' be over there in half an hour."

Curly passed from man to man, whom he singled out from among the
dancers and onlookers, and the Texan slipped unobserved through the
door and proceeded directly to the hotel. On the street he met Bat.

"De pilgrim, she lock up in de woolhouse an' Sam Moore she stan' 'long
de door wit two revolver an' wan big rifle."

"All right, Bat. You look alive now, an' catch up Purdy's horse an'
see that you get a good set of bridle reins on him, an' find the girl's
horse an' get holt of a pack-horse somewheres an' get your war-bag an'
mine an' our blankets onto him, an' go down to the store