"No, thank you," said Jenkins, with mocking courtesy. "I'm stayin'. It's risky—with the sheriff gettin' on to it in three days' time—but it ain't as risky as goin' to jail with the chance o' bein' shot."
"Then, that's all," said Buck. "No use to ask any o' the rest."
"July wants to go out with us," spoke up Ted.
"I sho do want to go wid Mr. Hardy an' Cap'n Ted," declared the grinning negro.
"All right, July. I brought you in and, if you want to go, I'll take you out."
The two groups were now quite distinct, first Carter and then Jenkins having joined James and Thatcher.
"So," said James, as if estimating the relative strength of contending forces, "there's three of you and the nigger and the boys, and there's four of us—five when Wheeler gets back."
"Yes, you'll get Wheeler—not a doubt of it," said Buck, as if greatly amused. "And you're welcome to him."
Then he turned his back on James, remarking to those about him: "Well, I think our crowd had better go to bed. We ought to start early in the mornin'."
To this there was general assent, the three men and the two boys moving at once toward the sleeping-loft, followed slowly by the negro.