"Set here under a bush an' let 'em pick yuh up same as they would a cottontail, mebbe?
We got a hull night to work in, an' Casey's eyes is as good as anybody's in the dark.

More'n that, Casey's six-gun kin shoot just as hard an' fast as a rifle--let 'im git close enough." Barney did not want to be left alone and said so frankly.

Neither did he want to climb the butte.

He could see no possible gain in climbing to meet an enemy or enemies who could hear the noise of approach.

It was plain suicide, he declared, and Barney Oakes was not ready to die.
But Casey could never listen to argument when a fight was in prospect.
He filled a canteen, emptied a box of cartridges into his pocket, stuck his old, Colt six-shooter inside his trousers belt, and gave Barney some parting instruction under his breath.
Barney was to move camp down under the bank by the spring, and dig himself in there, so that the only approach would be up the narrow gulch.