one of the twelve grew greater. At every step she feared a discovery, for it was impossible to guess what lay immediately before her. The valley floor was not only thick with great trees, but mighty boulders. They had evidently been split by erosion from the cliffs around and lay here and there, a perfect hiding place for a veritable army. The keen scent of wood-smoke reached her nostrils. She paused a moment, uncertain from which direction it came, for the air was still. Then she turned to the right and stole on with careful steps. Each crackling of a twig beneath her feet made her heart thunder.
IX. JERRY DECIDES
The scent of smoke grew fainter, ceased, and came again. A murmur like the sound of voices brought her to a dead halt to listen. She heard nothing further for a moment and went on again until a great stone, full forty feet in height, blocked her progress and she began to circle it. As she turned the corner of the boulder she stopped short, and dropped to the ground.
The big stone and several smaller ones close to it lay in a rough circle, and in the center of the space smoked a pile of wood, which would soon break into flames. Already little crimson tongues of flames licked up along the edges, quivered, and went out, to be replaced by others. By the dim light of this rising fire, she made out shadowy figures one after another, nine in all, and she could not see all of the circle.
“Start it yourself, Porky,” said a voice.
A snatch of flame jerked up the side of the pile of wood and flickered a moment like a detached thing at the top. By that light she saw the big bearded fellow leaning against a rock just opposite her.
“Not me,” he answered, “Mac will be back maybe. If he don’t come, I’ll start the ball rollin’. Gimme time.”
The fear which made her drop to the ground still paralyzed Jerry, so that she heard these things as from a great distance. With all her heart she wished for the strength to creep back from the rock, but for the moment she had no strength. The clatter of a galloping horse drew up to the rocks and stopped. Montgomery entered the circle and threw himself down beside Porky. A general silence held the group. The fire flamed up and clearly showed the round of somber faces as they turned to Montgomery.
New heart came to Jerry, for Montgomery had evidently abandoned his place in the gap and now the way of her flight lay clear. She rose cautiously from her prone position to her hands and knees and began to draw softly back.
“Did he come through?” asked a voice.
“Just passed me,” answered Montgomery, “and he was riding hard. The roan looked as if he’d covered a hundred miles today.”
Jerry paused, all ears, and her heart leaped. They must mean that Black Jim had ridden through the pass. The black shadow of the rock concealed her perfectly and unless some one actually walked upon her, through the aperture between the two big boulders, there was practically no chance that they could discover her presence. Black Jim has returned, and now she connected his return to the valley, for some unknown reason, with this assemblage in the night. She could not forget the threat which Montgomery had made earlier in the day.
“Put it to them straight, Mac,” said Porky to Montgomery. “Give ‘em the whole idea, just the way you talked it over with me. They’re all set to listen. I sort of prepared the way.”
“All right,” agreed Montgomery, “I’ll tell you where I stand. I’m tired as hell of having Black Jim walk all over us. I say if we’re men we’ve got to put an end to it, savvy?”
Another of those little ominous silences fell on the circle.
“It appears to me, partner,” drawled Montana, “that you’re talkin’ a powerful lot, when a man might say you’re only jest come among us.”
“He ain’t askin’ you to come in on the plan,” broke in Porky aggressively. “Neither am I. Jest listen, an’ if you don’t like the idea a mighty sight, nobody’s goin’ to hurt you for staying out.”
“Nacherally,” agreed the Doctor, “but kick out with your hunch, Mac.”
Jerry went cold, yet she edged a little closer for fear that a single low-pitched word might escape her.
“I haven’t been here long,” said Montgomery, “but while I’ve been here I’ve learned enough about Black Jim for him to make me sick.”
“He generally makes folks feel that way,” said a voice, and a chuckle followed, which broke off short, for Porky was glowering from face to face.
“You remember what he did the day after he brought the girl into the valley?”
“I reckon he brought you-all in about the same time,” said the man of the pale face and yellow teeth, grinning.
Montgomery frowned black.
“He took me from behind,” he said savagely. “I didn’t have no chance to get at my gun, or maybe the story wouldn’t be the same.”
“Go on, Silent,” encouraged Porky. “Don’t let ‘em throw you off the trail.”
“All right. You remember he came down here and told us all he had a deadline drawn around his cabin at the edge of the trees and if any of us crossed it he was no better than dead meat?”
A general growl rose, for the memory angered them to their hearts.
“We all were pretty still when he spoke,” said Montgomery, “and my way of looking at it, we acted like a bunch of whipped dogs.”
“Kind of smile when you say that, partner,” said the pale-faced man, “or pretty soon maybe you’ll be riding your idea to death!”
“I’m telling you what it seemed to me,” said Montgomery. “I say, what right has Black Jim got to make rules up here? This valley is above the law, isn’t it?”
“It ain’t the first thing he done,” said Porky. “He’s been makin’ laws of his own all the time, an’, by God, I ain’t the man to stand for it no longer, which I say, Black Jim is always a bluffin’ from a four-flush.”
“Me speakin’ personal,” added the Doctor, “I got no use for a man that won’t liquor up with the boys now an’ then. It shows he ain’t got any nacheral trust for his pals.”
“I say it’s come to a show down,” said Montgomery. “Either we’ve got to move out and leave the valley to Black Jim, or he’s got to move out and leave it to us. Am I right?”
“All savin’ one little thing,” drawled a voice. “You-all seem to be forgettin’ that Black Jim ain’t partic’lar willin’ to move for anybody. Ef it comes to movin’ him, he’ll have to be carried out feet first, in a way of speakin’.”
“And why not move him that way?” asked Montgomery.
Once more the breathless silence fell. Jerry could see each man flash a glance of question at his neighbor and then each pair of eyes fell glowering upon the fire. A little gritting sound caught her, and she found that she was grinding her teeth savagely. All her wild, loyal nature revolted against this
