"I'll take the chances, an' see what Billings' gang can do."
"Don't think of such a thing," Mrs. Byram cried in alarm. "You might be killed."
"A fellow who has worked a matter of half a dozen years at Farley's can't be knocked out so easy."
"Are you going into the street?"
"Yes, an' to the mine if I take the notion."
"What could you do alone against two or three hundred men?"
"Show that there is one fellow who ain't afraid of the whole murderin' gang."
"That would be the height of foolishness."
"I can't help it," was the dogged reply, and Brace rose to his feet as if to leave the house.
Both Sam and Fred sprang up to detain him; but before a word could be spoken by either, angry shouts and cries were heard in the distance.