"Guess Sufferin' Creek has gone plumb crazy," he went on delightedly. "I've had boys around to keep me posted. They been spotting things. Old Minky has been sittin' so tight I guessed I'd have to raid the store for his gold; an' now they've opened out. That buzzy-headed old fool's goin' to send out a stage loaded down with dust. It starts Wednesday morning, an' he guesses it's to win through to Spawn City. Gee! An' they're shoutin' about it. Say, Jess, they say it's to carry sixty thousand dollars. Well, it won't carry it far. That's why I'm back here now. That's why I quit worrying with your kids when Wild Bill did up Luke. We hustled home to change our plugs, an' are hittin' the trail again right away. Sixty thousand dollars! Gee! what a haul! Say, when I've taken that"--he moved a step nearer and dropped his voice--"we're goin' to clear out of this--you an' me. Those guys out there ain't never going to touch a cent. You leave that to me. We'll hit for New Mexico, and to hell with the north country. Say, Jess, ain't that fine? Fine?" he went on, with a laugh. "It's fine as you are." She had no answer for him. And he went on quite heedlessly, lost in admiration of his own scheme, and joy at the prospect. "We'll settle down to an elegant little ranch, most respectable like. You can go to church. Ha, ha! Yes, you can go to church all reg'lar. You can make clothes fer the poor, an' go to sociables an' things. An' meanwhiles I can slip across the border and gather up a few things--just to keep my hand in--" "What time are we gettin' out?" James swung round with the alertness of a panther. One of the men was standing in the doorway, a burly ruffian whose face was turned to his leader, but whose cruel eyes were rudely fixed on the woman. "In ha'f-an-hour," cried James, with a swift return to his harsh command. "Tell the boys to vittle for three days an' roll a blanket. We'll need 'em fer sleep. An', say," he cried, with sudden threat, "don't you git around here again till I call you. Get me?" There was no mistaking his anger at the interruption. There was no mistaking his meaning. The man slunk away. But as James turned back to the woman his previous lightness had gone, and his ill-humor found savage expression. "There's someone else needing a lesson besides Conroy," he snarled. Jessie shivered. "He didn't mean harm," she protested weakly. "Harm? Harm? He was staring at you. You ain't fer sech scum as him to stare at. I'll have to teach him." The man was lashing himself to that merciless fury Jessie had once before witnessed, and now she foolishly strove to appease him. She laughed. It was a forced laugh, but it served her purpose, for the man's brow cleared instantly, and his thoughts diverted to a full realization of her presence, and all she meant to him.