“Not me!” cried Hurley again. “I wouldn’t tackle Nell for a farm.”
“And—and you are so close to her—know her so well?” murmured Hunt.
“That ain’t no never-mind,” the mining man said earnestly. “That girl’s got teeth, I tell you.”
“But she is in danger. She must be questioned.”
“Great saltpeter! You wouldn’t get nothing out of Nell Blossom—nothing that she didn’t want to tell.”
“She should be convinced that her greater danger lies in silence.”
“Convince Nell? What did I tell you, Willie? You couldn’t make her do a thing, or even see a thing, that she did not want to do or see.”
“There is one thing I can do,” said Hunt finally.
“What’s that, Willie?” and his friend sighed.
“Find me a pickax and shovel.”