Roy Norton

“ I tell you, Tom, there are mighty few men courageous enough to court trouble with Cash Vance. I keep clear of him as I would of a blind rattlesnake in dog days. The only man I know that takes any chances with him—outside of Josh, of course—is that lying thug, Karluk Pete, who is brave with a wolf? s bravery, and as cunning.”
He got to his feet as if recalling the immediate duties of their quest, and Tom was as one in a great hazard, and waiting apprehensively for some further indication as to how his confession had been received. ”

“ There came a time when the mine owner, who had watched him intently throughout the conversation, thoughtfully looked away at the distant mountaintops and sat silently for a long time.
“I have been very miserable, sir,” Tom said, almost as if speaking to himself. “I thought I should go and give myself up. Confess! Accept the punishment I had earned. But Josh wouldn't let me.”
“And he gave you the right advice!” said Barnes, with unexpected emphasis. “Cash Vance would have shown you no mercy. He is vindictive, unspeakably dishonest, but, withal, a fearless man. He has the power of courage. ”

“ That he never scruples at anything to gain his objects?”
“I'm afraid I do,” said Tom bitterly.
“He has money—lots of it. Nobody knows how much. And he doesn't quibble over using it. And he has reasons for hating you and wishing to harm you. There is no hatred in the world like that a bad man bestows on one he has deliberately wronged, and there isn't the slightest doubt, also, that Vance robbed your father. You, as Bill Rogers' only son, have fallen heir to that hatred.” He paused and laughed harshly. “What I can't understand is, how it happens that Josh hasn't killed him long before this. ”