"Won't they do it now?"

Bradley laughed.

"They'll be afraid to," he answered. "I've beaten them at their own game, and they think I'm as desperate a bully as they pretend to be. No; they won't think it safe to interfere with our property."

"How many men did you say you had killed, Jake?" asked Ben, with a smile.

"That was all talk. Thank Heaven, I haven't the blood of any fellow creature on my hands!"


CHAPTER XXV. — THE HORSE-THIEVES.

All four slept soundly, but the visitors awoke first.

"Are you awake, Tom?" inquired Mosely.