ake out,
they've just been talking in a circle, and going over and over the same
ground. The size of the business is that half of them believe the Priest
Captain is telling the truth, and the other half believe that he is
lying. This is a matter of conviction; it is not a thing that they can
argue about. As far as I can see, there is nothing to prevent them from
keeping on talking without getting anywhere for the next twenty years."

"Well, all I can say," said Young, "is that if they'll put me in th'
cab, an' let me run their train for 'em, I'll get it up this grade in no
time; an' what's more, I'll just take it down th' other side o' th'
divide a-kitin'! What's th' matter with th' Priest Captain, an' only
half of 'em have th' sense t' see 't, is that he's just solidly lyin'.
He's been lyin' to 'em from away back, I reckon; an' he's lyin' to 'em
now; an' he'll keep on lyin' to 'em right smack along till he gets t'
th' end of his run. If they're fools enough t' believe him they're bound
t' get left th' worst kind. They've got him in a hole now, an' he knows
it--an' that's more'n they do, t' judge from th' way they're goin' on.
I did have some respect for that Council. So far, they've managed things
first-rate. They've run in advance o' their schedule right along, an'
they've kep' up a rattlin' head o' steam with mighty d----n bad coal.
But if they really mean t' draw their fires, just when they ought t' put
on th' forced draught an' let her go for all she's worth, I must say I
haven't any more use for 'em. Seein' 'em shilly-shallyin' around like
they're doin' now, when they ought t' be takin' their coats off an'
sailin' in, just makes me sick!"

Fray Antonio--whose habit of quiet was such that he rarely sought to
take part in the talks that we had in English among ourselves--somewhat
surprised me by asking me to translate to him what Young and Rayburn had
been saying; and when he had heard it all he was silent for a while, and
evidently was engaged in earnest thought. At last, speaking very
gravely, he asked us if we greatly feared being thrust out from the
valley in case the Council decided to accept the Priest Captain's terms;
and without giving us a chance to answer, he bade us remember that we
had not at all explored the last valley that we had passed through
before we entered the canon that ended at the Barred Pass, and that from
it there well might be some outlet through which we could return to the
civilized wor