"Not any, an' that's positive. The United States wants him, an' every State west of Mississippi has a price on him," Toothpick replied. "I'm tellin' yuh he'll get a pardon in Texas if he comes out of this," Sam Hogg cried. "Yea, _if_----" Tom Powers said softly. The two they watched continued their laughter. "Tell me where this valley of yours is," Snippets pleaded. "Yuh start from Wilton in Arizona. Yuh follow the sun until yuh come to the Three Widows. They is Black Buttes what looks sorrowful. The trail goes up Paintbox Canyon. An' when yuh can't go no farther, yuh start climbing to the moon, and pretty soon yuh see it. It ain't very big, but there's surprising trees an' grass an' plumb gorgeous flowers, an' there's a house an' hosses--regular man-eaters. An' there's a gal cooking pies fer 'em an'----Shucks!" Allen interrupted his dreaming. "They's everything yuh want, when yuh get to the moon." He leaped to his feet and looked down at her. Suddenly she seemed to have grown very small and childish. Her dark eyes glistened with unshed tears. "Shucks, kid. I was usin' plumb-loose language," he said, with an effort at lightness. He turned abruptly and walked to the men beside the other fire. Snippets watched him; his shoulders sagged, as if they were drawn down by the weight of the two big guns he wore. But a few minutes later he was laughing again and making the others laugh with him. The men examined their weapons and gathered about the battering-ram. It was pushed to the top of the crest. There, only a slight shove would be needed to send it rolling toward the fortress. Ropes were attached to the front axle, and mounted men held their ends. "Yuh stays put, until I lights the match. Then yuh comes a-hoppin' straight for the light. An' Toothpick an' Tad tosses Allen in through the window," Sam Hogg explained. The ex-Ranger had insisted that it was his right to give the signal. He was to creep down to the fortress, and his lighted match would mark the position of the door as well as give a signal. He removed his boots and crept through the darkness toward the black blotch which was the fortress. Allen, followed by Toothpick and Tad Hicks, walked past the fire beside which Snippets was sitting. The little outlaw did not speak to her, but as the firelight caught his eyes, she saw they glinted with yellow, and she knew the boy who had talked to her a short time before was gone. He had given way to the Wolf. "Yuh remember, if yuh gents don't toss me straight, the judge will sure enough stretch rope," Allen warned. Tad and Toothpick nodded. They knew that, not only would the judge be lost, but that, if Allen failed to clear the window at the first attempt, the gunmen within would make a sieve of him before he could struggle clear. CHAPTER XI THE ATTACK