the Apache country, and that's what I call the biggest piece of
tom-foolery that was ever knowed."

This kind of talk might have discouraged ordinary people, but Barnwell
and his companions had long since become accustomed to it. They had
learned to brave ridicule before leaving their homes, and they classed
the expressions of the hunters who had called upon them with the
utterances of those who failed to "look into the future."

"We were not the dunces to suppose that this was a promised land, in
which there were no giants to dispossess," replied Barnwell, in the
same dignified manner. "Our fathers had to fight the Indians, and we
are prepared to do the same."

Sut Simpson had no patience with this sort of talk, and he threw up
his head with an impatient gesture.

"Did you ever toss a hunk of buffler meat to a hungry hound, and seen
how nice he'd catch it in his jaws, and gulp it down without winkin',
and then he'd lick his chops, and look up and whine for more. Wal,
that's just the fix you folks are in. Lone Wolf and his men will
swallow you down without winkin', and then be mad that there ain't
somethin' left to squinch thar hunger."

As the hunter uttered this significant warning, he gathered up the
reins of his mustang and rode away.


CHAPTER II
A BRIEF CONFERENCE