bought off our warriors. They've been taken in on the copper find, on
some small sharing, while we, in quite another sense of the word, are
simply taken in. Such," observed Mr. Dewing philosophically, "is the
result of inopportune virtues."

"Bosh! I told you all along," said Anderson heavily, "that there's no
mineral in the Gavilan. I've been over every foot of it--and I'm a miner.
We get no news because no man makes haste to announce his folly. You'll
see!"

"Creede and Cripple Creek had been prospected over and over again before
they struck it there," objected Zurich.

"Silver and gold!" retorted Eric scornfully. "This is copper. Copper
advertises. No, sir! I'll tell you what's happened. There's been no
battle, and no treachery, and no mine found. We've been trapped. That
Gavilan location was a fake, stuck up to draw our fire. We've tipped our
hand. Mr. Johnson can now examine the plans of mice or men that your
combined sagacities have so obligingly placed face upward before him, and
decide his policies at his leisure. If I were in his shoes, this is what
I would be at: I'd tell my wondrous tale to big money. And then I would
employ very many stranger men accustomed to arms; and when I went after
that mine, I would place under guard any reasonable and obliging
travelers I met, and establish a graveyard for the headstrong. And that's
what Johnson will do. He'll go to the Coast for capital, at the same
time sendin' young Stanley back to his native East on the same errand."

"You may be right," said Zurich, somewhat staggered. "If you are, their
find must be a second Verde or Cananea, or they would never have taken a
precaution so extraordinary as a false location. What on earth can have