"By whom?"
"By us."
"If so, we should start at once."
"Yes, Mr. Shirley, there is not a minute to spare. Let us get our horses and start as soon as it's dark," said Badger, with unusual determination.
[CHAPTER XXXI.—HOW IT FARED WITH SAM AND HIS FRIENDS.]
When darkness came, the night of Ulna's arrival at Hurley's Gulch, it found the camp excited about the existence of Tom Edwards' receipt—which it was claimed young Sam had—and, as a consequence the miners were divided as to the guilt or innocence of Mr. Willett and Hank Tims.
Three-fifths of the men believed that the prisoners were fairly tried, justly condemned and that they should have been hanged.
Indeed, these fellows felt that Collins, Si Brill and the men they had brought with them to prevent the execution were no better than a pack of outlaws.
All the men at Hurley's Gulch carried pistols, as a matter of course, but now they armed themselves with rifles, for the purpose of destroying Collins and his friends, if they did not at once surrender the prisoners.
From comparative peace the camp was plunged into a state of war, with rival factions ready to slay each other, in order that they might take or save the lives of Mr. Willett and Hank Tims.