“By gum, you _are_ a corker, Cap--you sure are.” Hoag's eyes gleamed, a look of pride settled on his face; he crossed his legs and tapped the spur on his heel with the butt of his whip till the little pronged wheel spun like a circular saw, “When I'm driv' clean to the wall like this I generally see a loophole,” he said. “Now, let's set to work; you send out the word in the usual way, an' have 'em meet at the Cove.” “Good, good! It's worth tryin', anyway.” Trawley breathed more freely. “I'll notify most o' the boys--especially them that live in Canton County.” “Order out as many as you can,” Hoag said. “At night it will be hard for the sheriff to know who they all are, an' the bigger the crowd the better; but, say--I've just thought of something important. You'll have to leave Sam an' Alec Rose out. You see it stands to reason that they'd never consent to let the tramp off, an'--an'--well, we can't kill 'im. He's got to go free.” “Yes, Sam an' Alec will have to be left out--they are crazy enough as it is. I'll caution the other boys not to let 'em know a thing about it.” “That's the idea.” Hoag was starting away, when Trawley, still seated on the trough, called him back. “Wait; thar was something else I had on my mind to tell you, but it has clean slipped away. I intended to tell you last night, but we had so much to do, an' thar was so much excitement. Lemme see--oh yes, now I remember!” Trawley stood up and caught the lapel of Hoag's thin coat. “Say, Cap, I want to warn you, as a friend, you are goin' to have more trouble with Jeff Warren. He hain't never been satisfied since you an' him had that fight last spring. He says he licked you, an' that you've been denying it. He was here at the stable yesterday talkin' about what he was goin' to do with you when he meets you. He's heard some'n he claims you said about him an' Ralph Rundel's wife. I reckon he is actin' the fool about 'er, an' maybe he is takin' advantage of a sick man; but nobody knows, for sure. Some think Jeff is honorable. Anyway, you'll have to look out an' not let 'im git the drop on you. He's a bloodthirsty devil when he's mad, an' he hain't got sense enough to know that he'd compromise the woman worse by fightin' for her than lettin' the matter blow over.” Hoag stood silent, facing his companion. His countenance became rigid and his heavy brows fell together; there was a peculiar twitching about his nostrils. “I don't know what I said about him an' her, an' I care less.” He spoke in halting, uncertain tones. “I've got no use for 'im, an' never had.” “Well, I thought there'd be no harm in puttin' you on yore guard.” Trawley looked at his chief as if perplexed over his mood. “He's a hot-headed devil, that will shoot at the drop of a hat.” Hoag stood rigid. There was a fixed stare in his eyes. His lips quivered, as if on the verge of utterance, and then he looked down at the ground. Trawley eyed him in slow surprise for a moment, then he said: