"I thought you were going to bungle it," said Randall. "What was the matter?" "Front sight caught at the edge of my sleeve. I had to tear it loose by main strength. I'm going to file it off. What's the use of a front sight at close range?" I heaved a deep sigh. "Well, I don't want ever to be so scared again," I confessed. "Will you tell me, by all that's holy, _why_ you turned your back on the door?" "Well," said Johnny seriously, "I wanted to get him close to me. If I had shown him that I'd seen him when he first came in the door, he'd have opened fire at once. And I'm a rotten shot. But I figured that if he thought I didn't see him, he'd come across the room to me." "But he nearly got you by surprise." "Oh, no," said Johnny; "I saw him all the time. I got his reflection from the glass over that picture of the beautiful lady sitting on the Old Crow Whiskey barrel. That's why I picked out that table." "My son," cried Danny Randall delightedly, "you're a true sport. You've got a head, you have!" "Well," said Johnny, "I figured I'd have to do _something_; I'm such a rotten shot." CHAPTER XXXI THE EXPRESS MESSENGER We slept late the following morning, and awoke tired, as though we had been on a long journey. "Now," said Johnny, when our after-breakfast pipes had been lit, "we've got to get together. There's two serious questions before the house: the first and most important is, who and what is Danny Randall?" "I agree with you there," said I heartily. "And the second is, what are we going to do with ourselves?" "I'm going to begin mining," I stated. "All right, old strong-arm; I am not. I'm dead sick of cricking my back and blistering my hands. It isn't my kind of work; and the only reason I ever thought it was is because the stuff we dig is called gold." "You aren't going to lie down?" I cried incredulously. "No, old sport, I'm not going to lie down. I came out here to make my fortune; but I don't know that I've got to dig gold to do that." "What are you going to do?" "That I don't know," confessed Johnny, "but I'll be able to inform you in a few days. I suppose you'll be going back to the Porcupine?" "I don't know about that," said I seriously. "I don't believe the Porcupine is any richer than these diggings, and it's mighty uncertain. I believe a man's more apt to keep what he gets here, and there's a lot more company, and----" "In other words, you're going to stick around old Yank or know the reason why!" interrupted Johnny with a little smile. I flushed, hesitated, then blurted out: "Well, yes. I shouldn't be easy about him here by himself. It strikes me this is a tough camp, and almost anything's likely to happen."