"Ther revernues!" shouted Wade Miller.
"No, not ther revernues!" rang out a clear voice; "but Muriel!"
The boy chief of the Black Caps was there.
"An' Muriel is not erlone!" thundered another voice. "Rufe Kenyon is har!"
Out in front of Muriel leaped the escaped criminal, confronting the man who had betrayed him.
Miller staggered, his face turning pale as if struck a heavy blow, and a bitter exclamation of fury came through his clinched teeth.
"Rufe!" he grated. "Then it's fight fer life!"
"Yes, it's fight!" roared Kate Kenyon's brother, as a long-bladed knife glittered in his hand, and he thrust back the sleeve of his shirt till his arm was bared above the elbow. "I swore ter finish yer, Miller; but I'll give ye a squar' show! Draw yer knife, an' may ther best man win!"
With the snarl that might have come from the throat of a savage beast, Miller snatched out a revolver instead of drawing a knife.
"I'll not fight ye!" he screamed; "but I'll shoot ye plumb through ther heart!"