"All he knew. He and two others must have heard that I was leaving Silver for Virginia City, and had considerable money about me, for they rode out from behind a bluff and commenced shooting free." "And you escaped?" "I did. A bullet carried off my hat, but I turned in the saddle, dropped one man, killed another's horse and the third turned tail and fled." "Is it possible?" gasped Smithers. "Then I made the running at a two-twenty pace, you bet, for I thought there might be more of them, and I never drew rein till I saw you in the distance." Mrs. Smithers regarded her husband blankly, and the trepidation which this news caused the whole party to feel was written in their faces, Alice and Harold becoming particularly pale. "Can the sheriff and his posse do nothing in the premises?" inquired Smithers. "I guess neither the sheriff, nor the selectmen, nor the vigilance committee care to attend to business which is so far from them." "Do they know of it?" "Indeed they do. This fellow--Capt. Jordan, as he calls himself--has infested Dead Snake Canyon for a week or more, and has stopped a dozen travelers; but he may stop a dozen more before he gets up the dander of the Silver citizens. I was told of him, and that's what made me take the disguise of an honest farmer." "Perhaps they'll stop us," said Mrs. Smithers. "That's a dead sure thing," answered Brady. "Is there no other road, sir, that we could take to avoid this desperado?" asked Smithers. "None that I know of." "What will we do?" said Smithers, with a groan of despair. "Put your money in your boots and appeal to the fellow's generosity to let you go on with your stores. Maybe he'll be after playing at higher game than robbing a poor emigrant." "Some of those men," remarked Smithers, "are said to have some generosity." "Oh, yes!" answered Joe Brady. "There was a fellow that practiced in California, who would never rob a woman." "Is it any use showing fight?" inquired Smithers, displaying a new rifle and a brace of pistols. "If you want your brains blown out on the prairie. No, no," answered Brady. "Don't anger them. You're not strong enough. Who knows how many there may be in the gang. What can one man do. Think of your wife and children, and if you can't save your property, at least try to preserve your life for their sake. And now, good-day and good luck to you," cried Joe Brady. "The same to you," answered Smithers. "Remember, I warned you." "I'm not likely to forget." The stranger made an inclination of the head to Mr. Smithers, and putting spurs to his horse, was soon out of sight. Smithers put the team in motion again, and the oxen labored along over the rough, uneven road. He had traversed two-thirds of the Dead Snake Canyon without meeting with any human being, and was congratulating himself upon his escape from Capt. Jordan. But his congratulations were premature.