The girl hesitated, then crept away sobbing as Cravath made a threatening move toward her.
"Now, I'll settle with you and your bunch of meddling tenderfeet," announced Cravath sternly. "Right about face!"
They hesitated, then turned in obedience to his command. There seemed nothing else for them to do, for both men were fingering their weapons suggestively.
"These boys have done nothing to harm you, Cravath," protested Mr. Phipps. "And no more have I. Mark me, you'll pay for this indignity, and dearly too."
"You don't say?" sneered the miner.
"I suppose this is where you hide the ponies you have been stealing," said Phipps boldly, a sudden thought having come to him.
"Forward march!" roared the enraged miner.
"Not—not over the cliff—you—you can't mean it?" begged Phipps, his face going suddenly pale.
"That's what I mean. You fellows are supposed to be buried in the mine down there. It'll take 'em months to blast into the place where they think you are, and when they reach the place you all will be gone a long time."
Cravath laughed harshly.