ly a white rag tied to a stick was thrust out from
behind a tree.

Instantly Charley gave the signal to stop firing. As it ceased, a man
stepped out into the open, bearing the flag of truce in his hand.

Charley laid down his smoking rifle and leaped lightly over the
barricade.

"Don't go to meet him, Charley," Walter implored, "anyone of those
murderers are likely to take a pot shot at you. Do come back."

"Better listen to the lad, Charley," said the captain, earnestly. "You
can't count on that gang respecting a truce flag. Don't go, my boy."

But Charley only smiled determinedly. "I want to hear what he has to
say, and I don't want him to see the weak points in our barricade," he
said, "besides, the other day, I was noticing that fellow coming.
Criminal he may be, but he is far too good for the company he's in.
I've got a feeling that he would not stand to be a decoy. Here goes,
anyway. Don't worry."

Midway of the open space the two met. The convict was a young man,
with a dark, handsome face and bold, reckless eyes. He greeted the
young hunter as coolly as though they were meeting for a pleasant
social chat.

"I came because the rest were afraid," he explained, cheerfully, eyeing
the other from head to foot with cool assurance. "They are so crooked
and treacherous themselves that they think that your companions will do
as they would do,--not hesitate to fire on the bearer of a white flag."

"They have a good chance at me now," said Charley with a smile.

The stranger grinned as he skilfully rolled a cigarette with one hand.
"I gave them to understand before I left that they would have to reckon
with me if they tried any such trick," he remarked, cheerfully. "I
guess that will keep the brutes quiet for a while. But let's get down
to business. I have," he said ironically, "the distinguished honor to
be their messenger, but first let me say that, although with that gang
of beasts, I am not of them. I've killed my man, but it was in fair
fight, and not by a knife in the back. I have no kick coming over what
the law dealt out to me. Furthermore, if I had known the animals, I
would have to travel with, I would not have let my longing for freedom
draw me away from the turpentine camp. Lord knows, I wish I was back
there now." His voice, which had grown earnest, dropped again into a
sarcastic note. "But I am wandering, as I said before, my noble,
gallant friends have made me their messenger and