“I wasn't goin' to use them nasty words _myself_,” the speaker smiled down into the beardless face from which they had issued, “for it wouldn't be becomin' on an occasion like this. Cold feet don't seem to fill the bill exactly, nohow. A man may have a cold pair when his judgment is ag'in' some move or other. The thing some of us new members find ourselves up against in our leader is rank _cowardice_, an' plenty of it.” “Cowardice!” Hoag allowed his rigid lips to echo. “That's the word,” the speaker stared fixedly, as low murmurs of approval swept through the immediate group around him and permeated the borders of the crowd in general. “Explain yourself.” Hoag was conscious of fighting for some expedient of rescue under the shadow of toppling defeat. “Oh, well, our boys have made up their minds that you are plumb without any sort o' real grit,” Welborne said, firmly. “You seem to be one solid bluff from beginnin' to end. We could cite half a dozen cases, not to mention the two times that Jeff Warren made you eat dirt an' lick the soles of his boots.” “It's a lie!” Hoag floundered, recklessly. “A low, dirty lie!” Welborne stepped out from the group and advanced half-way to the captain. “That's what I've been hopin' you'd git to,” he said, calmly. “I suppose you mean _me_. Now, rise from that log, Hoag, an' prove whether you got any backbone or not. You are not only a liar, but a low-lived coward in the bargain!” Dead silence fell. Hoag was well aware that his power was gone--his throne had crumbled under his feet, for he saw the utter futility of fighting the young giant before him, and he knew that many of his supporters would regard it as inevitable. “I didn't say _you_ was a liar. I said--” “But I say you are worse than that,” Welborne snarled, “and you've got to set thar before us all an' chaw my statement an' gulp it down.” “You fellows have laid a trap for me,” Hoag muttered, desperately. He glanced around at the older men. How strange it was that no word of rebuke came from even the wisest of them! Surely they didn't believe the charge of this wild young drunkard after all those years in which he had led them, and had their homage and respect. “I see you don't mean to defend yourself,” Welborne went on, glancing around at the gathering, “an' that's proof enough of what I say. You've held your post not because you was a brave man, Jim Hoag, but because you had money that some men are low enough to bow before; but us young men in these mountains will have a leader with sand in his craw, or none at all.” The speaker paused, and his fellows stood up around him. There was a warm shaking of hands, a rising clamor of approval, and this spread even to the older men, who were excitedly talking in low tones. “Come on, boys, let's go home!” Welborne proposed. “We'll have that meetin' to-morrow night, an' we'll _do_ things. Next time a good man gits in jail no low-lived skunk will keep him thar!”