His words came faintly to Patsy’s ears.
“I tell you,” he said, “we’re ready to pay the price, but you’ve got to deliver the goods. There’s nothing unfair in that. We’ve come out here to tell you so, but you can’t deliver the goods here, can you?”
“That’ll be all right,” said one of the rough men.
“Oh! will it? How do we know?” demanded Snell’s companion. “We don’t propose to put our feet into a trap.”
At this some of the men laughed hoarsely.
“Supposin’,” suggested one of them, “we don’t let you get out of this gulch alive?”
Snell could be seen to start uncomfortably.
His companion was unmoved.
“In that case,” he retorted, “you’d leave a couple of worthless stiffs here for the crows to pick. That’s all.”
“Do you mean that you haven’t brought the stuff with you?”