"Only three thousand dollars."
"Only, huh. Only? Who's puttin' up the cash?"
"Riley Taylor put his name down for a thousand and Hazel's uncle, Tom Walton, added six hundred, and——"
"Why, that sixteen hundred is my own money!" interrupted Jack Murray.
"I expect so," continued Felix. "The other fourteen hundred was made up around the town."
"I suppose you'll tell me you fellers put it up yourselves," said the sarcastic Mr. Murray, who did not expect any such thing.
"Sure we did," said Felix. "We had to. Bill Wingo and Sam Prescott and Wildcat Simms brought the paper round, and we had to sign up. I'll be out a hundred if you're caught, Sam two hundred, Tip a hundred, Rafe the same, and that's the way it went. Even the district attorney chipped in his ante."
Jack Murray was too horrified to speak for a minute. While he wrestled with his thoughts Sam Larder spoke.
"You see, Jack," said he, "we had to sit in. If we hadn't, everybody would have said we sympathized with you, and we couldn't afford that—not with elections coming on. It would never do. Never. You see how it is, I guess."
"Yes, I see," said Jack bitterly. "I see all right. I see you've skun me between you. That damn reward will make me leave the territory for a while."