“Now I 'll tell you what we 'll do. We 'll get this Dutch woman to nurse Bert here, and then the four of us will step down to the bridge and see what we can make of it—or hold on; I 'll take Van Deelen and go to the bridge, and you and Harper can go down to the creek below the barn and work up to the bridge. What do you think of that?”
“First-rate.”
“You aren't too fagged?”
“Not me—not while the rest of you are on your pins.”
“That's the talk. I 'll see about the woman here.”
“Say, Bill, wait a minute. You aren't planning to walk right up to the bridge, are you?”
“Sure. Why not?”
“If I was you, I'd work around through the trees a little. He may be there yet, and we know how he can shoot.”
“What's the use? It's all a gamble anyhow. The thing to do is to go on the run. A man is a good deal like a dog, you know. If you run right at him and show all over you that you mean business, why, even if he thinks he is ready for you, it's likely to bother him. Upsets his nerve—starts him thinking he is on the losing side.”