"You forced me to come in the first place--"
"Yes! And now I force you to stay."
Longorio's stand appeared to please Lewis, who chimed in with the
words: "That's right, Ed. You've got to stick, for once in your
life."
"What do you mean, you nearly ran into my car back yonder?" Austin
asked, after a moment.
"Ain't that your machine yonder by the thicket?" inquired Lewis.
"If it ain't, whose is it?" As no one answered, he started in the
direction he had indicated; but at that moment a man came running
from the riverbank, crying, softly:
"Look out! They come."
"I'm going to shoot," Paloma Jones gasped, but Alaire, who once
again heard the sound of whispering in the shadows just outside
their hiding-place, managed to restrain her companion. It was well
that she succeeded, for even as Paloma raised her weapon a man
passed swiftly by the crack of the half-open door and scarcely ten
feet beyond the muzzle of the rifle. He was followed by three
others.
The first of the new-comers, acting as spokesman for his party,
stepped out into the moonlight and cried, loudly: "Hello, men!
What's goin' on here?" It was an American voice; it had a broad,
slow, Texas drawl.
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