"The proof's right here," affirmed Jade, again shaking the scrap of paper violently in Steve's face. "Here's the reward offered for information concernin' the riders. You're the traitor, and you alone!" "I'm not!" persisted the accused, though his voice seemed less assertive than before, and held in its tone a quality of fear. "You've no right to say so. I picked up that scrap of paper on the side of the road the other day." "Yes, an' you also picked up the traitor's price along with it," sneered Jade Beddow. "I'll just save this for future use," he added, folding the paper and thrusting it in his pocket. "What use?" asked Steve nervously. "As evidence when you come to be tried for a spy," answered Jade calmly. "You haven't forgot this soon the penalty of betrayin' our band, have you?" he continued in a sterner voice, fixing his cold, piercing eyes full upon his companion. "I never done it," muttered Steve, letting his eyes drop before the close scrutiny of Jade's gaze. "You cain't prove it." A sudden thought came to the accuser as he stood looking at the culprit, who squirmed about uneasily under the penetrating eyes, and the tones that Jade next employed suggested rather an argument than a threat. His voice dropped into almost a persuasive key. "Now look here, Steve!" he said quietly, "I've caught you dead to rights, an' you cain't squirm our of it, so you needn't try. You sold yourself for this money, don't deny it. You haven't saved up fifty cents in the last ten years, you know it, yet here you sit with a handful of crisp new bank-notes, tellin' me you earned 'em honestly. Ha! ha! that's a good one! The devil himself would laugh at a joke like that." Jade Beddow folded his arms and looked down on the poor wretch at his feet, who gave no evidence of the humor of the situation. "Now see here, Steve! you're in a tight fix, sure an' certain, but if you'll do just as I tell you, I'll promise to get you out." "How?" asked Steve hoarsely, a growing sign of weakness manifest. "By fixin' the deed on somebody else." "Who?" "Milt Derr." Steve remained silent. "Fix it on him, an' it saves you. You'll have to lie a bit, but you're good at that." "I cain't put it on him--don't ask me!" cried Steve sharply. "He done me a good turn only the other night. I cain't lie on him now." Jade gave a sudden, short, harsh laugh. "Your conscience is gittin' mighty tender, all of a sudden," he said derisively. "He stopped an' took me up behind him, after the rest of you had rid off. But for him I'd be in jail, right now." "All right! you can do as you please about the matter," answered Jade coolly. "Only there's a much hotter plac'n the jail, they say, which you stand a mighty good chance of reachin', an' d--n quick, too. If you want to suffer a traitor's fate, you can do so, I'll see that you get your just desserts, an' quickly. I've showed you an easy way to escape. You can take it or leave it, just as you choose."