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18 that's why," went on Gus Fetter. "If he got us into trouble I wouldn't keep silent about him, and he knows it."

"Macklin is slippery, no two ways about it," said Matt Gilroy, as he took off his jacket and wrung the water out. I am not inclined to trust him, and that is all there is to it."

"Did he ever belong to the old gang?" questioned Nat Potts. "Some say he did, and some say he didn't."

"He was a hanger-on, that's all," came from Matt Gilroy. "He was always afraid to take the chances of being shot, but was on hand when the spoils were divided. They used him as a messenger and a spy, but I don't believe he ever really helped to hold up a coach."

"Humph, then it's a wonder the old crowd had anything to do with him!"

"Oh, they had to have messengers and spies, and they never gave Macklin more than was coming to him, you can bet on that! I understand that when the Riverton coach was held up six years ago, and the gang got twenty-two thousand dollars, they gave Macklin five hundred, and he was glad to get that."

"That was a big haul!" cried Nat Potts enthusiastically. "I wish I had been in it."

"The gang was followed for two days—by the