WE MEET DOUBTFUL CHARACTERS 



tide. 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 bluflP '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 Burlin- 

 game 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 hav- 

 ing gone off to the war — that the few citizens left 



47 



