I'm feeling a little better now," he said,
looking at the saddlebags, "but I'm not fit to be trusted yet with
carnal weapons. When the other mule comes and is packed I'll overtake
you on the horse."
A little more satisfied, although still wondering and perplexed,
Demorest shouldered one rifle, and with Barker, who was carrying the
other, followed the muleteer and his equipage down the trail. For a
while he was a little ashamed of his part in this unusual spectacle of
two armed men convoying a laden mule in broad daylight, but, luckily,
it was too early for the Bar miners to be going to work, and as the
tunnelmen were now at breakfast the trail was free of wayfarers. At the
point where it crossed the main road Demorest, however, saw Steptoe
and Whiskey Dick emerge from the thicket, apparently in earnest
conversation. Demorest felt his repugnance and half-restrained
suspicions suddenly return. Yet he did not wish to betray them before
Barker, nor was he willing, in case of an emergency, to allow the young
man to be entirely unprepared. Calling him to follow, he ran quickly
ahead of the laden mule, and was relieved to find that, looking
back, his companion had brought his rifle to a "ready," through some
instinctive feeling of defense. As Steptoe and Whiskey Dick, a moment
later discovering them, were evidently surprised, there seemed, however,
to be no reason for fearing an outbreak.
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