"Run!" yelled somebody, giving Leverett a violent shove into the woods.
In the darkness and confusion, Clinch shouldered his way out of the circle and fired at the crackling noise that marked Leverett's course, — fired again, lower, and again as a distant crash revealed the frenzied flight of the trap-robber. After he had fired a fourth shot, somebody struck up his rifle.
"Aw," said Jim Hastings, "that ain't no good. You act up like a kid,
Mike. 'Tain't so far to Ghost Lake, n'them Troopers might hear you."
After a silence, Clinch spoke, his voice heavy with reaction:
"Into that there packet is my little girl's dower. It's all I got to give her. It's all she's got to make her a lady. I'll kill any man that robs her or that helps rob her. 'N'that's that."
"Are you going on after Quintana?" asked Smith.
"I am. 'N'these fellas are a-goin with me. N' I want you should go back to my Dump and look after my girlie while I'm gone."
"How long are you going to be away?"
"I dunno."
There was a silence. Then,