"Now, stranger, you've got me thar. 'Twas a fool thing to do."
"Well, I'll tell you what we'll do. You three stand up and swear you bear no malice or ill-will to me and my mate, and you and your crowd'll do us no harm, and I'll let you go."
"How about the mine?"
"Never mind about the mine. If your Captain and the rest are as big fools as you three, there won't any of you come back to meddle with the mine. The Apaches'll look out for that. There'll be worse than they are behind you, too."
He was speaking of the Lipans, but Bill's face grew longer as he listened, and so did the faces of his two friends.
"You know about that, do ye?"
"I know enough to warn you."
"Well, all I kin say is, we've got that dust, bars, nuggets, and all, and we fit hard for it, and we're gwine to keep it."
"What can you do with it here?"
"Here? We're gwine to Mexico. It'll take a good while to spend a pile like that. It took the Chinese a year and a half to stack it up."