“Hands up! I said that before! Now do it!”
“Well, before I do any elevating,” said Mason calmly, “s’pose you just turn around and take a look behind you. Look around, Deck!”
“You must think I’m foolish!” laughed the other. But a moment later one of his own men, who had obeyed the suggestion of the deputy cried:
“It’s all up, Deck, they have us covered!”
And it was so. Knowing the character of the men he had to deal with, Deputy Mason had taken no chances. When the water gates were being lowered and raised he had sent some of his men off in the bushes by a roundabout trail, for he suspected that the Lawson crowd would return. And when they did return, and seemed to have Uncle Tod and his friends at their mercy, the men Mason had placed in ambush circled around and executed a rear and flank movement on the enemy. The Lawson gang was completely under cover of a number of rifles held by steady hands.
“All right—you win!” exclaimed Deck Lawson with an uneasy laugh. “But I have a right to Lost River.”
“What’s the use of talking foolish?” demanded Mason. “You know me and I know you. Give up your guns and go away peaceably. If you want to fight the courts will give you your rights the same as they would anyone else. But if you want to start a fight here—well, I’m ready for you, that’s all.”
“All right—you win,” said Deck again, with a bitter laugh. “But I’ll have my rights!”
“You’re entitled to them, but not to the rights of other people,” said the deputy. “If you go away quietly there’ll be no further trouble from me—but I warn you I’ve got plenty of men. You only see half of ’em. Look!”
He blew a whistle and from another part of the woods there suddenly appeared ten more deputies.