“Well!—­Whatever it was—­don’t ask me—­but, dern my skin, ef after a word or two from him—­them boys just stopped yellin’, turned round like lambs, and rode away, peaceful-like, along with him.  We ran after them a spell, still yellin’, when that thar Bulger faced around, said to us that he’d ‘come down here for quiet,’ and ef he couldn’t hev it he’d have to leave with those gentlemen who wanted it too!  And I’m gosh darned ef those gentlemen—­you know ’em all—­Patsey Carpenter, Snapshot Harry, and the others—­ever said a darned word, but kinder nodded ’So long’ and went away!”

Our astonishment and mystification were complete; and I regret to say, the indignation of Captain Jim and Mosby equally so.  “If we’re going to be bossed by the first newcomer,” said the former, gloomily, “I reckon we might as well take our chances with the Sawyer’s Dam boys, whom we know.”

“Ef we are going to hev the legitimate trade of Rattlesnake interfered with by the cranks of some hidin’ horse thief or retired road agent,” said Mosby, “we might as well invite the hull of Joaquin Murietta’s gang here at once!  But I suppose this is part o’ Bulger’s particular ‘business,’” he added, with a withering glance at Briggs.

“I understand it all,” said Briggs, quietly.  “You know I told you that bullies couldn’t live in the same camp together.  That’s human nature—­and that’s how plain men like you and me manage to scud along without getting plugged.  You see, Bulger wasn’t going to hev any of his own kind jumpin’ his claim here.  And I reckon he was pow’ful enough to back down Sawyer’s Dam.  Anyhow, the bluff told—­and here we are in peace and quietness.”

“Until he lets us know what is his little game,” sneered Mosby.

Nevertheless, such is the force of mysterious power that although it was exercised against what we firmly believed was the independence of the camp, it extorted a certain respect from us.  A few thought it was not a bad thing to have a professional bully, and even took care to relate the discomfiture of the wicked youth of Sawyer’s Dam for the benefit of a certain adjacent and powerful camp who had looked down upon us.  He himself, returning the same evening from his self-imposed escort, vouchsafed no other reason than the one he had already given.  Preposterous as it seemed, we were obliged to accept it, and the still more preposterous inference that he had sought Rattlesnake Camp solely for the purpose of acquiring and securing its peace and quietness.  Certainly he had no other occupation; the little work he did upon the tailings of the abandoned claim which went with his little cabin was scarcely a pretense.  He rode over on certain days to Bigwood on account of his business, but no one had ever seen him there, nor could the description of his manner and appearance evoke any information from the Bigwoodians.  It remained a mystery.