went on. "Can't we arbitrate?"

"The first move for you, young man," warned one of the four men,
raising his rifle, "is to face about and git outer here."

"Not while there are women and children present who might get hurt,"
Tom dissented, with a shake of his head.

"Git, I tell you!" shouted the man, now aiming his rifle full at
Tom's chest. Git---before I count five."

"Save your cartridge," proposed Tom. "I'm too poor game, and
I'm not armed, either. Surely you wouldn't shoot a harmless orphan
like me." Saying which the young engineer, having found a path down
the cliff nearby, started slowly to descend.

"Get back there! Another step, and I'll put a ball through you!"
roared the man who had Reade covered with his rifle.

"That wouldn't prove anything but your marksmanship," Suggested Tom,
and coolly continued to descend.

"Going to get back?" howled the man behind the gun.

Without further answer Reade quickened his pace somewhat, reaching
the flat bottom of the gully on a run.

Though he felt that the chances were eight out of ten that he would
be shot at any second, Tom didn't betray any outward fear. The
truth was that even if he wanted to stop, he would have found it