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One of the men thrust himself forward. "We know it. Y'u and that

hellish partner of yours shot him while he was locking the gate.

But y'u made a mistake when y'u come to Fort Lincoln. He lived

there before he went to be a guard at the Arizona penitentiary.

I'm his brother. These gentlemen are his neighbors. Y'u're not

going back to prison. Y'u're going to stay right here under this

cottonwood."

If the extraordinary menace of the man appalled Neill he gave no

sign of it. His gray eye passed from one to another of them

quietly without giving any sign of the impotent tempest raging

within him.

"You're going to lynch me then?"

"Y'u've called the turn."

"Without giving me a chance to prove my innocence?"

"Without giving y'u a chance to escape or sneak back to the

penitentiary."