"'Law an' order's as good 'tother side o' the line as it is here!' says Bull.
"'Have it your own way! I'll send the patrol boat with you as far as the border. I can't do no more.'
"We didn't want the patrol, but he sent it, any way, an' we started out.
"'Last chance!' he yells, when the border's reached, 'better come back!'
"'We ain't quitters!' Bull shouts back, an' on we go, six of us, an' close on to half a million dollars in dust among the lot. Every man had a rifle, a six-shooter, an' plenty o' ammunition. All was old-timers an' quick on the shoot. We reckoned we could take care of ourselves, good an' plenty. Any way, we weren't goin' to land anywheres until we struck Circle, so there wouldn't be no danger.
"We hadn't got more'n ten miles the other side o' the line, jest beyond the little minin' camp of Eagle, when of a sudden:
"A bullet strikes the boat, right at the water line, an' she begins to leak.
"It was pretty shootin', an' every man reaches for his gun. There's a curl o' smoke driftin' up from a pile o' rock, but no one shoots, knowin' well the marksman's under cover. We trims the boat, to keep the hole out o' water, and then:
"'Spat! Spat!'