"The citizens of Paloma," returned Duff.

"All of them?" Reade insisted.

"All of them--with few exceptions."

"I understand you, of course," Tom nodded.

"Now, Mr. Duff, I'll tell you what I propose. I'm curious to know just
how many there are on your side of the fence. Pardon me, but I really
can't quite believe that the better citizens of this town are behind
you. I know too many Arizona men, and I have too good an opinion of
them. Your kind of crowd makes a lot of noise at times, and the other
kind of Arizona crowd rarely makes any noise. I know, of course, the
element in the town that your committee represents, but I don't believe
that your element is by any means in the majority here."

"I assure you that we represent the sentiment of the town," Duff
retorted steadily.

"Much as I regret the necessity for seeming to slight your opinion," Tom
went on with as pleasant a smile as at first, "I call for a showing of
hands or a count of noses. I'll tell you what we'll do, Mr. Duff, if it
meets with your approval. We'll hire a hall, sharing the expense.
We'll state the question fairly in the local newspaper, and we'll invite
all good citizens to turn out, meet in the hall, hear the case on both
sides, and then decide for themselves whether they want the railroad
engineers to leave the town or--"

"They do want you to leave town!" the gambler insisted.