“I’ll never give that word, my man!”
“Then take your warning! The fight is on—and this time I’m in it.”
“I’m glad to be informed. I have an announcement of my own to make. Listen!” He gave a command. Instantly, startlingly, in the fog-shrouded spaces of the valley rang out a salvo of gun fire. Many rifles spat. The sound rolled in long echoes along the gorge and was banged back by the mountain sides.
“Latisan, those bullets went into the air. If you and your men come onto this dam——”
“There’s only one kind of a fight up here among honest men—and you won’t stand for it, eh?”
“We’ve got your number! You’re declared outlaws. These men will shoot to kill.”
In the chorus from the Flagg crew there were howls and groans.
“And argument won’t bring to you any sense of reason and decency, will it?” demanded the drive master.
“We shall shoot to kill!” insisted the magnate of the Comas corporation.
“All right! If those are your damnable principles, I’ll go according to ’em.”