more than I do. Make it a quick one, will you? I find myself bored here."

"I will. Let me outline two of the many possibilities: If I don't bail
you out, I'm doin' you dirt, ain't I? Well, then, if Zurich & Gang think
I'm double-crossin' you they'll make me a proposition to throw in with
them and throw you down on the copper mine. That's my best chance to find
out how to keep you from goin' to the pen, isn't it? And if you don't
tell Vesper that you're in jail--but Vesper finds it out, anyhow--that
gives me a chance to see who it is that lives in Vesper and keeps in
touch with Cobre. And I'll tell you something else: When I come back I'll
bail you out of jail and we'll start from here."

"For the mine, you mean?"

"Sure! Start right from the jail door at midnight and ride west. Zurich &
Company won't be expecting that--seein' as how I left you in the lurch,
this-a-way."

"But my cousin will never be able to stand that ride. It's a hundred and
sixty miles--more too."

"Your cousin can join us later--or whoever ever comes along with
development money. There'll be about four or five of us--picked men. I'm
goin' this afternoon to see an old friend--Joe Benavides--and have him
make all arrangements and be all ready to start whenever we get back,
without any delay. I won't take the sheriff, because we might have
negotiations to transact that would be highly indecorous in a sheriff.
But he's to share my share, because he put up a lot more money for the
mine to-day. I sent it on to Yuma, where an old friend of mine and the
sheriff's is to buy a six-horse load of supplies and carry 'em down to