"Well, what do you say?"
"Still—no," said Jack.
"That's me!" snapped Ralph.
"In any event," demanded Jack, "suppose we did sign, what would you do with our friends?"
"That would concern me only," said the Mexican. "As for this cow-puncher here——"
"Mister Pete De Peyster is my name," spoke up Coyote Pete, caressing his yellow mustache.
"Well, De Peyster, then, I have an old score to even up with you——"
"Oh, you mean about the time I snaked you off your horse when you were going to ill-treat a pony," said Pete. "Yep, I reckon the bump you landed with must have left some impression on your greaser mind."
Black Ramon stepped forward. It looked for a second as if he was going to strike the venturesome cow-puncher, but instead he restrained himself and remarked in a calm voice, even more terrible than a raging tone would have been: