At first Joe thought to call out to the newcomers, but he checked himself, for their appearance was decidedly against them.
"I'll try to find out something about them first," he muttered. "Perhaps they belong to that gang of bad men Benson was telling us about yesterday." And then, as the three came to a halt in the center of the outer cave and dismounted, he crept closer, in the shadow of some sharp rocks, to overhear what they might have to say.
CHAPTER III.
AN IMPORTANT CONVERSATION.
"Who ever saw such a downpour before?" growled one of the three men, as he switched the water from his soft felt hat. "I'm wet to the skin."
"I'm no better off," replied one of the others. "I think we were fools to leave Macklin's place, Gilroy."
"Just what I think, Fetter," said the third man. "We could have waited as well as not."
"Yes, we could have waited, Potts," answered Matt Gilroy; "but, to tell the truth, I don't want to trust Macklin too far. He might play us foul."
"He wouldn't dare to do that," returned Gus Fetter.