“Vale, vot do you t’ink uff idt?” “The thing is so daring,” she said, “that it makes me dizzy.” CHAPTER XX. SPRINGING THE TRAP. Tim Benson and Juniper Joe wanted to get out of the country, but they yearned for more money before they went. They had become so much frightened that not even the offer of a hiding place in Uncle Sam’s cabin could reassure them. Seeing more clearly every hour that Gopher Gabe thought more of his own safety than he did of that of any member of the gang, they were resolved to cut loose from him, but to hide their intention until after they had pulled off another “job.” That job was no less than the cracking of the safe of the Blossom Range bank, which they knew was stuffed with money and gold. The express company had refused to carry either money or treasure over its route until times bettered. So the prudent people of the town had rushed their wealth to the bank, where guards were mounted over it day and night. The question of how it could be cracked with safety, under these conditions, was an important one. Benson wanted to get the personal aid of Gopher Gabe and White-eyed Moses, both of them once experts in that line, though latterly they had taken to pathways that they reckoned more secure. They refused to do the dangerous work; but agreed to meet Benson and Juniper Joe that night, with others, at the cabin of the Fool of Folly Mountain, there to talk the matter over privately. They would look about during the day, they said; so would be in position to give advice, if nothing else. Strolling into Gopher Gabe’s establishment that day, the Fool of Folly Mountain was asked by Gopher Gabe to come into the back room, where a “talk” could be had. Back there the miner found both Juniper Joe and Tim Benson; also White-eyed Moses, and another all-round bad man, called Williams. They conferred with him about the matter in hand, after cautiously “sounding” him. He thought it was a good scheme, he said, if it could be worked; and he agreed to a meeting of the “gang” at his cabin that night. “I don’t think I care to try the safe-crackin’ job myself jest yet,” he told them; “though maybe I’ll come to it by and by; but I want you fellers to do it, so that you can sure cinch onto enough money so that I won’t have any trouble in gettin’ my little thousand a week. You see, I’m lookin’ out for Number One, the same as you are.” They asked him about the prisoners; and were assured that they were “all right.” “Cody is gettin’ ready to raid this place,” Gopher Gabe told him. “I got it straight. But he won’t find a thing when he does it.” The night was dark and late when Gopher Gabe and his friends came to the cabin on the mountain. With the saloon keeper were Tim Benson, Juniper Joe, White-eyed Moses, and the scoundrel called Williams. The Fool of Folly Mountain met them at the door and let them in. The place was as dark as the night outside.