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64 of theirs, an' it don't go to match the man they're shy.

"'One of us six who's left has to die to count even for this Greaser who's been called in them five days ago. Tate can't move 'em; all he says is no use; so he quits, an' as he's been talkin' Spanish—which the same is too muddy a language for the rest of us—Tate turns in an' tells us how the thing sizes up.

"'"One of us is shorely elected to trail out after the lieutenant,"says Tate. "The rest they holds as pris'ners. Either way it's a hard, deep crossin', an' one's about as rough a toss as the other."

"'This last Tate stacks in to mebby win out a little comfort for the one the Mexicans cuts outen our bunch to kill. "'After a brief pow-wow the Greaser who's actin' range-boss for the outfit puts six beans in a buckskin bag. Five is white an' one's black. Them Greasers is on the gamble bigger'n wolves, an' they crowds up plenty gleeful to see us take a gambler's chance for our lives. The one of us who draws a black bean is to p'int out after the lieutenant.

"'Sayin' somethin' in Spanish which most likely means "Age before beauty," the Mexicans makes Willis an' me stand back while the four others searches one after the other into the bag for his bean.