"I'll put a hole in some of you," he muttered; and felt at the side of his chest. But if he had carried a gun in a Texas holster there, it was gone. "Say, you, what's the matter with you?" he queried. "What do you want to keep me here for?"
"You'd better wait. We'll stay, too."
He glared at us. Then he began to wheedle.
"Say, what'd I ever do to you? Didn't I give you back that message, and tell you all I knew? Didn't I help you out as much as I could?"
"Then what have you got it in for me for?"
"We'd rather you'd wait till the Ranger or somebody comes along," I explained.
He fumbled in a pants pocket.
"Lookee here," he offered. And he held it out. "Here's a twenty-dollar gold piece. Take it and divvy it among you; and I'll go along and nobody'll be the wiser."
"No, thanks," we said.