A flat shoulder of sandstone dominated the stairway from above.  Upon this Morse crouched, every sense alert to detect the presence of any one stealing up the pass.  He waited, eager and yet patient.  What he was going to attempt had its risk, but the danger whipped the blood in his veins to a still excitement.

Occasionally, at intervals, the rifles cracked.  Except for that no other sound came to him.  He could keep no count of time.  It seemed to him that hours slipped away.  In reality it could have been only a few minutes.

Below, from the foot of the winding stairway, there was a sound, such a one as might come from the grinding of loose rubble beneath the sole of a boot.  Presently the man on the ledge heard it again, this time more distinctly.  Some one was crawling up the rocks.

Tom peered into the darkness intently.  He could see nothing except the flat rocks disappearing vaguely in the gloom.  Nor could he hear again the crunch of a footstep on disintegrated sandstone.  His nerves grew taut.  Could he have made a mistake?  Was there another way up from behind?

Then, at the turn of the stairway, a few feet below him, a figure rose in silhouette.  It appeared with extraordinary caution, first a head, then the barrel of a rifle, finally a crouched body followed by bowed legs.  On hands and knees it crept forward, hitching the weapon along beside it.  Exactly opposite Morse, under the very shadow of the sloping ledge on which he lay, the figure rose and straightened.

The man stood there for a second, making up his mind to move on.  He was one of the half-breeds West had brought with him.  Almost into his ear came a stern whisper.

“Hands up!  I’ve got you covered.  Don’t move.  Don’t say a word.”

Two arms shot skyward.  In the fingers of one hand a rifle was clenched.

Morse leaned forward and caught hold of it.  “I’ll take this,” he said.  The brown fingers relaxed.  “Skirt round the edge of the rock there.  Lie face down in that hollow.  Got a six-shooter.”

He had.  Morse took it from him.

“If you move or speak one word, I’ll pump lead into you,” the Montanan cautioned.

The half-breed looked into his chill eyes and decided to take no chances.  He lay down on his face with hands stretched out exactly as ordered.

His captor returned to the shoulder of rock above the trail.  Presently another head projected itself out of the darkness.  A man crept up, and like the first stopped to take stock of his surroundings.

Against the back of his neck something cold pressed.

“Stick up your hands, Barney,” a voice ordered.

The little man let out a yelp.  “Mother o’ Moses, don’t shoot.”

“How many more of you?” asked Morse sharply.

“One more.”

The man behind the rifle collected his weapons and put Barney alongside his companion.  Within five minutes he had added a third man to the collection.