"Don't like it," replied Tom, as lightly as he could. "I guess you are sorry, now, that you didn't heed our warning and go back to Gunnison." "I'm not particularly sorry. I have as much right out here as anybody." "Oh, you needn't put on airs to me. I know you are trembling in your boots." "Thanks, but if you'll bring your chin out of the air, Baxter, you'll see that I am wearing shoes." "Don't you put on airs with me, Tom Rover. You are in our power and you shall suffer for the way you have treated my father and me in the past." "I have no doubt, Baxter, now I am helpless, that you will do your worst. You were always ready to take an unfair advantage of another." This answer made Dan Baxter boil with rage, and he stepped closer and shook his fist in Tom's face. "You be careful or I'll--I'll crack you one," he blustered. "You're a cheerful brute, Dan, I must say. Why don't you try to fight fair for once? It would be such a delightful change." "I do fight fair. You and your brothers have no right to poke your noses in my affairs, and my father's." "This affair out here is our own, not yours. The Eclipse Mine is my father's property." "And I say it belongs to me and dad," answered Dan, with more force than elegance. "But I won't argue with you. You are in our power and have got to take the consequence." "What do you intend to do with me?" asked Tom. "You'll find out soon enough." "Don't you know that my brothers are in this neighborhood, and that they have the law on their side?" "Yes, I know your brothers are here--and we'll have them prisoners, too, before long," returned Dan Baxter, and then cut the conversation short by walking away. Tom had managed to speak bravely enough, yet his heart was by no means light. He realized that the Baxters had not forgotten the past, and that here, in this wild country, they were more inclined than ever to take the law in their own hands. He was left alone for the best part of an hour, only Noxton seeing to it that he did not run away. Then he was ordered to mount again, his legs being liberated for that purpose. Feeling it would be foolhardy to refuse, with three men and a boy against him, Tom mounted, and the whole party moved along the mountain to a spot which was evidently well-known to Noxton. Here, at a certain point, was what had once been an overland hotel, but the building was now dilapidated and deserted. "We'll stop here for the present," said Arnold Baxter grimly. "Get down, Rover," and Tom obeyed. Inside of the place, two of the rooms were found in fair condition and in one of these Tom was tied fast to a cupboard door. Then the men went out for another parley.