The next morning Ulna was dispatched on this mission, and we have seen the fidelity with which he performed the duty and the unexpected obstacles that prevented the return of the accused man's son with the papers.
There were two men at Hurley's Gulch at this time who, if they had chosen, could have set at rest all doubts as to the mystery surrounding Tom Edwards' death and handed over the guilty parties to the vigilantes; but as this act would have resulted in their own swift destruction, they kept their awful secret to themselves.
These men were Frank Shirley and the outlaw Badger.
Frank Shirley believed, and with reason, that if Sam Willett was out of the way, the last bar between him and a great fortune would be down.
He was a dissolute, thriftless fellow, every faculty of whose low mind seemed to have been concentrated into the one mean gift of cunning.
On the way from Gold Cave Camp to Hurley's Gulch, Frank Shirley and the man whom he had hired to help him in his wicked purpose, discussed the situation from every point of view.
The first thing they decided on was that Mr. Willett and his son must be prevented from ever meeting again, but they did not agree so readily as to how this was to be done.
More bluff, and possibly more brutal than his employer, Badger urged that he be allowed to waylay Mr. Willett and kill him on his return.
But Frank Shirley opposed this, saying, for he was a coward at heart, as all such men are:
"Willett will have with him the Indian boy and the old hunter, Hank Tims; they are all well-armed, and they would be stronger than us. No, Badger, we must hit upon some plan that has less risk in it."