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250 start in with their respect. Let them lose their fear of you for a moment and they'll go for you. Treat them like men; think of them as wild beasts. That's what they are. The minute they know you're without your whip they go for you like tigers at a wounded trainer. One taste of meat is all they need to madden them. It's different with me. I'm wild, too."

His eyes gleamed at Andrew.

"And, if they raise you, I think they'll find you've more iron hidden away in you than I have. But the way they'll find it out will be in an explosion that will wipe them out. You've got to handle them without that explosion, Lanning. Can you do it?"

The younger man moistened his lips. "I think this job is going to prove worth while," he returned.

"Very well, then. But there are penalties in your new position. In a pinch you've got to do what I do—see that they have food enough go without sleep—if one of them needs your blankets—if any of 'em gets in trouble, even into a jail, you've got to get him out." "Better still," smiled Andrew.

"And now," said the leader, "I'll tell you about our next job as we go back to the boys."