"No. Not Pollard."
"Then Broderick?"
"Not Broderick."
"Bedloe?… The Kid?"
"What does his name matter? I'll give him a dozen names when the time comes, and by heaven he's got a crime to pay for for every name he ever wore!"
He grew suddenly silent and sat staring out through the open door at the distant mountains. At last he turned back toward Thornton, his eyes very clear, his expression placid.
"Guess why they are waiting five days more before springing their mine?" he asked abruptly.
"Yes. I figured it out a little while ago, after I found the truck in my loft. In five days it'll be the first of the month. On the first of the month the stage from the Rock Creek Mines will be worth holding up. It carried in ten thousand dollars last month. At times, there has been a lot more. Just as sure as a hen lays eggs, it is due to be robbed on the first; they'll find something here to prove I was the hold up man, and I…."
"And you go over the road for life or take a drop at the end of a rope?
And they quit being badmen and buy ranches? That it?"
"That's it. It's a gamble, but…."