Pluck on the Long Trail; Or, Boy Scouts in the Rockies

by Edwin L. Sabin

"Who's got the message now?" asked the man.

"He has," said the general, pointing at Bill.

"Let's see it."

Bill backed away.

"I ain't, either," he said. Which was another lie.

"Let's see it," repeated the man. "I might like to make that twenty-five dollars myself."

Now Bill was sorry he had told that first lie. The first is the one that gives the most trouble.

"Who are you?" he said, scared, and backing away some more.

"Never you mind who I am," answered the man—biting his words off short; and he rode right for Bill. He stuck his face forward. It was hard and dark and mean. "Hand—over—that—message. Savvy?"

Bill was nothing but a big bluff and a coward. You would have known that he was a coward, by the lies he had told and by the way he had attacked us. He wilted right down.