10 ACORN "There was but one person I told about it an' that was Molly. It wasn't unusual that I should tell her since we had agreed to share all our secrets. Molly had a brother. Billy, as he was called, was about nineteen then, young, daring and active. How he learned our secret I don't know, but he found it out. One night when Molly an' I was coming home late, we overheard a conversation between him an' one of Mexican Jim's spies. He was telling all about my mine and when it would be best to catch me in the gulch. Leaving Molly to find out the rest of the plot, I hurried to my cabin in the gulch and prepared to defend myself." "In three days I was to expect men from a small town about three miles from Reburg, where Molly had promised to send for help. The first and second days passed without disturbance. Early on the third day I saw a horse and rider come dashing at full speed up the gulch. As they drew nearer I recognized Molly to be the rider." "Quick! Quick! Jack," she cried, "Mexican Jim is coming! It's a race between him and your defenders; he will be here just a little ahead of your men. Quick! come to the mine." "It was a wild rush to reach the mine before we were in range of the enemy's bullets. A rough narrow path leading from the cabin was the only means of reaching the place with horses, so we thought if we could get there first we were safe. Not daring to look behind us, we scrambled up the trail. Suddenly a piercing cry from Molly startled me. There, crouching behind a bush before us, with his revolver pointed at her, was Billy. There was a shot fired and I fell. God mercifully took my senses from me. "When I came to myself again my head was bandaged and I lay on the bed in my cabin. I asked for Molly and the doctor told me she was no more. The bullet from Billy's gun had grazed my head and entered her heart. "The next night there was a lynching in the town 'an for four days afterward as I sat in my doorway I could see the body of Mexican Jim dangling from a tree in the mouth of the gulch. By his death the gang was pretty well broken up an' most of the fellows left these parts. There was a big reward offered for Billy's head and he got out of the country mighty fast. "I have never recovered from that day's experience. To me it will never be in the past. No, I can't sell and I can never work the mine, for Molly's life was taken there and the place is sacred to me, though thirty-five years have passed. Some one may work it some day, but not while I live." He ceased to speak and silence fell upon them. For a long time neither spoke. Then the young man arose to go. "Good-night" was all he said and disappeared in the dusk. ACORN 11 Fifteen minutes later he stood before his companions under the two large pine trees. "What luck, Bob?" they asked him, "Is it a sure thing? What did the old man say? How about the papers?" "Not much luck," he answered seriously. "Cheer up, boy," they said by way of consolation, then fiercely, "We will have it. We'll go up for the papers now yes, tonight. It's the best strike in the state! What is it to an old fool like him?" A hot discussion followed and several of the men started to leave for a visit to the old man, which was by no means friendly. "Say, fellows," the young man called and for a second or two there was silence, "Don't do anything rash. The papers are not in his possession. They are in the hands of One who understands all law and whose judgment I fear." '12.