As we entered the store the old storekeeper and Tom came out of the grain room--Tom with a sack of corn on his shoulder, making mysterious winks at us as he moved toward the door, indicating that he desired us to go back to the wagon. The store man cast an inquiring glance at the decanter and then at Captain Tucker. The latter nodded his head and said: "Chalk it down." On the way to the wagon we met Joe, who had probably completed draughting our mules' brands to his satisfaction. We told Tom of all that had occurred, and I rather expected that he would reprimand Jack for acting so rashly, but to my surprise he approved of the Irishman's doings. "Perfectly right, perfectly right," said Tom. "It won't do to give back to such fellows a particle. If we've got to have a brush with them, right now an' here's as good a time an' place as any. We must bluff 'em off right at the start or fight. But we mus'n't forget the old sayin', 'Never despise your enemy'; he may turn out a better fighter than you give him credit for bein'. We must watch every move they make an' be prepared to bluff 'em off at every trick they try. Jack was right in suspecting that that fellow with the cavalry jacket was copying the brands on our mules. They'll be after trying to prove 'em away from us, ef they can't bluff us." "Did you find out anything about them from the storekeeper?" I asked anxiously. "You were in that back room so long I thought you must be pumping him." "Yes, I wasn't idle," replied Tom, "an' I found out a whole lot. At first the old man was afraid to talk, for he's scared of these fellers, but when I promised him that we would not get him into trouble he let out an' told me all he knows about 'em. "This is the gang we heard about at Burlingame and again at A-Hundred-an'-Ten-Mile Creek," continued Tom. "They came to this neighborhood about a week ago an' have been robbin' and plunderin', an' everybody's afraid of 'em. The old storekeeper says that there are so few able-bodied men left here--most all of 'em having gone off to the war--that the few citizens left can't well make any organized opposition to 'em. This lot is an offshoot from Cleveland's gang of jayhawkers that we heard about at Leavenworth. It seems, the old fellow says, that this Captain Tucker was a lieutenant under Cleveland, an' they couldn't agree--each one wanted to be boss--so Tucker with a few followers split off from Cleveland an' started a gang of his own." "Well, but did you find out how many there are in this gang?" I asked. "Yes. The old man says that they try to make people believe that there is a big company, but from the best information he can get there are only seven or eight." "What did I tell you?" said Jack contemptuously. "Ef they're no better than these two we're good for that many, easy."