Page:Allan Dunn--Dead Man's Gold.djvu/124

110 out that camera of yours. I'll spring thet writin' yarn. Here they come. Smile at 'em but don't let 'em git a gun away from ye. It all depends on if they got any sort of a chief with 'em. See thet cave with the cottonwood shadin' it? If the worst happens make a break for that. I've bin in it. They's some walls in it a little way back, an they's water. None too good, but we can stave 'em off thar. An', if we have to run, grab a chunk of grub. We'll need it."

Only six of the bucks were coming into the cañon. They had dismounted, their horses held by the rest who grouped in a semicircle to watch the play. The six grinned as they neared them, smiles that were more contemptuous than civil, with covert sneers between each other. One led the rest with some semblance of authority. He nodded and threw up his hand palm outward.

"Howdy," he grunted. "You got tabaki?"

Harvey, one hand gripping the muzzle of his Winchester, reached around to a hip pocket and produced a slab of chewing tobacco which he handed to the Apache.

"Not got much," he said. The young chief grinned and slid the gift entire beneath his breech-clout. Instantly the five others followed his cue, demanding tobacco. Stone and Larkin, profiting by Harvey's experience, deliberately divided the stock in their pouches into half. Healy had his snatched away from him. The gambler's face swam in sweat, his fingers trembled despite all his efforts to