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"No use discussing that, Yorky. I know what I know. Here's the

great big point: If you lynch the man that shot Jed, the word

will go out that the valley is still a nest of lawless outlaws.

The story will be that the Squaw Creek raiders and their friends

did it. Just as the situation is clearing up nicely, you'll make

it a hundred times worse by seeming to indorse what Jed did on

Squaw Creek."

"By thunder, that's right," Harris blurted.

Fraser spoke again. "Listen, boys. Do you hear horses galloping?

That is Sheriff Brandt's deputies, coming to our assistance.

You've lost the game, but you can save your faces yet. Join us,

and kelp escort the prisoner to town. Nobody need know why you

came out. We'll put it that it was to guard against a lynching."