"We've come from the kimitty, and we'er agoin' to fotch up the prizners; so trot 'em out."
"We'll trot 'em out," replied Collins, as he took down his rifle from a peg, "and we'll trot along with 'em, for neither Si Brill nor me has give up our office as guards yet, an' what's more, we ain't agoin' to do it till this case is ended, one way or the other."
"We ain't got no objection," growled one of the men, "only don't keep us waitin' har all day."
"If yer in a great hurry," retorted Brill, as he also reached for his rifle, "go back as you come, for we've got charge of the prizners, and you can't take 'em from us without a fight."
The two men stepped back to consult, and Collins whispered, as he handed Mr. Willett and Hank two revolvers each:
"Hide those about your clothes, you may find them handy before we get through with this scrape."
Mr. Willett and Hank Tims quickly secreted the revolvers in their inside breast pockets and then followed the guards out of the dugout.
They clambered up the bank, ignoring the two men who constituted the "kimitty" and went on to the hotel, the dining-room of which—it was also the kitchen—was set apart by the proprietor for the trial.
The place was already crowded to suffocation, and a curious feature of the gathering was the fact that the burly, bearded man, who was to act as judge, and every other man in the room, was armed to the teeth and looked as if eager for a fight.