the table the Villon he had been reading, but he did it
without lifting his eyes from them.

"You have business with me, I presume."

"That's what we have," cried Reilly valiantly, from the rear.

"Then suppose we come to it and get the room aired as soon as possible,"
Leroy said tartly.

"You're such a slap-up dude you'd ought to be a hotel clerk, cap. You're
sure wasted out here. So we boys got together and held a little
election. Consequence is, we--fact is, we--"

Neil stuck, but Reilly came to his rescue.

"We elected York captain of this outfit."

"To fill the vacancy created by my resignation. Poor York! You're the
sacrifice, are you? On the whole, I think you fellows have made a wise
choice. York's game, and he won't squeal on you, which is more than I
could say of Reilly, or the play actor, or the gentlemen from Chihuahua.
But you want to watch out for a knife in the dark, York. 'Uneasy lies
the head that wears a crown,' you know."

"We didn't come here to listen to a speech, cap, but to notify you we
was dissatisfied, and wouldn't have you run the outfit any longer,"
explained Neil.

"In that event, having heard the report of the committee, if there's no
further new business, I declare this meeting adjourned sine die. Kindly
remove the perfume tubs, Captain Neil, at your earliest convenience."

The quartette retreated ignominiously. They had come prepared to gloat
over Leroy's discomfiture, and he had mocked them with that insolent
ease of his that set their teeth in helpless rage.

But the deposed chief knew they had not struck their last blow.
Throughout the night he could hear the low-voiced murmur of their
plottings, and he knew that if the liquor held out long enough there
would be sudden death at Hidden Valley before twenty-four hours were
up. He looked carefully to his rifle and his revolvers, testing several
shells to make sure they had not been tampered with in his absence.
After he had made all necessary preparations, he drew the blinds of
his window and moved his easy-chair from its customary place beside the
fire. Also he was careful not to sit where an shadow would betray his
position. Then back he went to his Villon, a revolver lying on the table
within reach.

But the night passed without mishap, and with morning he ventured forth
to his meeting with the sheriff. He might have slipped out from the back
door of his cabin and gained the canyon, by circling unobserved, up the
draw a