"Not at all," declared Welland. "I'm on the side of right, I tell you. I think the laws that govern Black Elk should be made at Discovery, not at Ottawa, and by the miners, not the Police. And the miners that make 'em should be the strong miners, whether in the majority or not. Might makes right in a new country and it ought to here. You agree?"
"I run this town with a hundred gunmen—I've been kep' out o' the Black Elk country by the yallah-legs—an' he asks me do I agree? Cert'nly, I agree!"
"Then why doesn't Might make Right over there?"
"Because o' the yallah-legs."
"Just so. Yet there are only two hundred of them. A few men with guts could soon put them where they belong."
"Huh! You think so. You don't know 'em like I do."
"Have you ever tried to force Hopeful Pass?"
"What's the good? They've got a Maxim and a dozen men in a place 'bout a yard wide! They'd mincemeat us before we got into gun-range. I prefer down here, sir, where the pickin's is easy!"
"You don't think it could be forced? Well, what would you think of this? Stir up the Black Elk country from the inside till every man worth his salt realizes it's time the Police tyranny went out. Then—just tell the Police they must either go or change the laws."
"They wouldn't go."