Page:Hendryx--Connie Morgan with the Mounted.djvu/304

286 never have worked that—you know him too well. But Shorty did, and you grabbed the bait like a hungry salmon." The boy shot a glance toward Peters who was studying the floor intently, and continued with scarcely a pause. "If you had been really smart, Wiley, you would have known that no man in his right senses would desert the Service and throw in with you. Why, he'd know in a minute that it would be only a question of time before we'd get him. But aside from all that there is something you don't know anything about—something that you couldn't understand if I should tell you: It's the Honour of the Mounted—but in the Service we know what it means. We'd give our lives for it." He paused and turned to Peters, "Wouldn't we, Shorty?" he asked suddenly.

The man jerked himself erect: "You bet we would, kid!" he exclaimed, huskily. And Brek Wiley glancing into his face knew that he meant what he said.

The journey down Coal Creek was made without incident except that the usually loquacious and light-hearted Shorty maintained a tight-lipped silence upon which Connie did not seek to