e.

CHAPTER XVII

IN LETTERS OF BLACK

There was a general outburst of indignation on the part of Jerkline
Jo's devoted retainers when the outfit went into camp at noon,
quarterway through the mountain pass.

"We'll fix 'im, Jo!" Heine Schultz exclaimed angrily. "All we gotta do
is make out to get ahead o' his old cough wagons and not let 'em pass.
We can hold 'im back clear through the pass, if we string out. Le's
figger it out fer the rest o' the trip, Jo. There's not over six
places where one vehicle can pass another. Now what we gotta do is
string out our outfit so's none o' us'll hit one o' those places when
the machines are comin'. Say, we can hold 'em up till----"

"Heine," said Jerkline Jo quietly, "is that your idea of business."

"Course it is. Stick it to the Al Drummond, Jo! He's started
somethin' that he'll have a hard time finishin', that's all. Say, we
can slip it to him till he'll be sick o' that dirty deal he handed you.
Leave it to Blink and me. We got it all schemed out."

"Heine," Jo remarked, "we'll travel right along as we have always
traveled. If one of Mr. Drummond's trucks comes up behind us and wants
to pass we will let it pass when it is convenient to do so."

"Not here, Jo! My team don't put one foot outa the road to let a truck
pass."

"No, I don't expect you to do that. But it will depend on conditions.
If you are loaded and he is empty, of course he must look out for
himself. Again, if you are climbing and he is coming down, he must get
out of the difficulty as best he can. But when you, loaded, reach a
place where a truck can pass you, and you know one is coming up behind
you and wishes to pass, you will stop your team in the road and let it
circle around you."

"I won't, Jo! I----"

"Yes, you will. You will do as I say, as you always do." She smiled
at him sweetly and patted his shoulder. "Loyal old Heinrich!" she
said. "Just the same old-timer, we must observe the courtesy of the
road always. Think it over--you'll see I'm right."

"Jo, you can't afford a jolt like that," said Jim McAllen.

"I can't," Jo told him frankly. "Right now I don't know what to do. I
must keep on, by some hook or crook, till I can get advice from some
one who's onto such tricks--Demarest, perhaps."

"It's a rotten deal!"

"I have an idea it's perfectly legitimate, Jim."

"They ain't gonta do anything to the road to make it worth a tenth o'
what they ask to travel