night without notice to our side, so Wheaton says, and they served
it this morning early. I went out to see McNamara, and when I got
there I found him in our private tent with the safe broken open."

"'What does this mean?' I said. And then he showed me the new
order.

"'I'm responsible to the court for every penny of this money,'
said he, 'and for every tool on the claim. In view of that I can't
allow you to go near the workings.'

"'Not go near the workings?' said I. 'Do you mean you won't let us
see the clean-ups from our own mine? How do we know we're getting
a square deal if we don't see the gold weighed?'

"'I'm an officer of the court and under bond,' said he, and the
smiling triumph in his eyes made me crazy.

"'You're a lying thief,' I said, looking at him square. 'And
you're going too far. You played me for a fool once and made it
stick, but it won't work twice.'

"He looked injured and aggrieved and called in Voorhees, the
marshal. I can't grasp the thing at all; everybody seems to be
against us, the Judge, the marshal, the prosecuting attorney--
everybody. Yet they've done it all according to law, they claim,
and have the soldiers to back them up."

"It's just as Mexico Mullins said," Dextry stormed; "there's a
deal on of some kind. I'm goin' up to the hotel an' call on the