“ ‘ ’Bout four hundred thousand, with luck.’
“ ‘Bill,’ says he, ‘there’s hell a-poppin’ an’ you’ve got to watch that ground like you’d watch a rattle-snake. Don’t never leave ’em get a grip on it or you’re down an’ out.’
“He was so plumb in earnest it scared me up, ’cause Mexico ain’t a gabby man.
“ ‘What do you mean?’ says I.
“ ‘I can’t tell you nothin’ more. I’m puttin’ a string on my own neck, sayin’ this much. You’re a square man, Bill, an’ I’m a gambler, but you saved my life oncet, an’ I wouldn’t steer you wrong. For God’s sake, don’t let ’em jump your ground, that’s all.’
“ ‘Let who jump it? Congress has give us judges an’ courts an’ marshals—’ I begins.
“ ‘That’s just it. How you goin’ to buck that hand? Them’s the best cards in the deck. There’s a man comin’ by the name of McNamara. Watch him clost. I can’t tell you no more. But don’t never let ’em get a grip on your ground.’ That’s all he’d say.”
“Bah! He’s crazy! I wish somebody would try to jump the Midas; we’d enjoy the exercise.”
The siren of the Santa Maria interrupted, its hoarse warning throbbing up the mountain.
“We’ll have to get aboard,” said Dextry.