I reck'n some o' the passengers was as tired o' bein' held up as those fellers was pinin' for excitement, an' when String an' Ham an' Whiff made their poor little play, they musta thought they'd struck a hornet's nest." "But to hang them," Whitey protested.

"Why didn't they shoot them, if they had to kill them ?" "Well, ye see hangin' makes it look worse for the next fellers what thinks o' holdin' up a train," said Bill.

"They'd stole three o' our hosses, anyway, an' that's a hangin' offense." But Whitey was not inclined to argue about the justice or injustice of the lynching.

He went away with Injun, and tried to eat.

And he tried, too, to forget the horror of the scene at the bridge.