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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ben's Nugget, by Horatio, Jr. Alger
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Ben's Nugget
+       A Boy's Search For Fortune
+
+Author: Horatio, Jr. Alger
+
+Release Date: May 8, 2008 [EBook #25384]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEN'S NUGGET ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Steven desJardins and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Ben's Nugget by Horatio Alger Jr.]
+
+
+[Illustration: TURNING THE TABLES.]
+
+
+
+
+BEN'S NUGGET;
+
+OR,
+
+A BOY'S SEARCH FOR FORTUNE.
+
+A Story of the Pacific Coast.
+
+BY
+
+HORATIO ALGER, JR.,
+
+AUTHOR OF "RAGGED DICK," "TATTERED TOM," "LUCK AND PLUCK," "BRAVE AND
+BOLD SERIES," ETC., ETC.
+
+THE JOHN C. WINSTON CO.,
+PHILADELPHIA, CHICAGO, TORONTO.
+
+COPYRIGHT BY HORATIO ALGER, JR., 1882.
+
+
+
+
+To
+
+Three San Francisco Boys,
+
+JOSEPH AND MAXEY SLOSS AND CLARENCE WALTER,
+
+THIS STORY
+
+IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+"Ben's Nugget" is the concluding volume of the Pacific Series. Though it
+is complete in itself, and may be read independently, the chief
+characters introduced will be recognized as old friends by the readers
+of "The Young Explorer," the volume just preceding, not omitting Ki
+Sing, the faithful Chinaman, whose virtues may go far to diminish the
+prejudice which, justly or unjustly, is now felt toward his countrymen.
+
+Though Ben Stanton may be considered rather young for a miner, not a few
+as young as he drifted to the gold-fields in the early days of
+California. Mining is carried on now in a very different manner, and I
+can hardly encourage any of my young readers to follow his example in
+seeking fortune so far from home.
+
+New York, May 19, 1882.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+CHAPTER I.                                      PAGE
+THE MOUNTAIN-CABIN                                13
+
+CHAPTER II.
+THE MISSING CHINAMAN                              23
+
+CHAPTER III.
+TWO GENTLEMEN OF THE ROAD                         30
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+KI SING IN THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY                 38
+
+CHAPTER V.
+FURTHER ADVENTURES OF BILL MOSELY                 46
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+AN UNEQUAL CONTEST                                54
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+TIED TO A TREE                                    62
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+TURNING THE TABLES                                70
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+BRADLEY'S SIGNAL VICTORY                          78
+
+CHAPTER X.
+"THE BEST OF FRIENDS MUST PART"                   87
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+PLANS FOR DEPARTURE                               95
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+THE PROFITS OF MINING                            100
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+KI SING'S RIDE                                   104
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+GOLDEN GULCH HOTEL                               113
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+BILL MOSELY REAPPEARS                            122
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+A TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE                            131
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+LYNCH LAW                                        139
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+AFTER THE EXECUTION                              147
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+BEN WINS LAURELS AS A SINGER                     151
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+A LITTLE RETROSPECT                              158
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+MR. CAMPBELL RECEIVES TIDINGS OF HIS WARD        165
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+A MORNING CALL                                   174
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+A SECRET CONFERENCE                              183
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+MISS DOUGLAS RECEIVES A MESSAGE                  188
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+WALKING INTO A TRAP                              195
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+A HARD-HEARTED JAILER                            201
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+A STAR IN THE CLOUD                              210
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+JONES CHECKMATES ORTON CAMPBELL                  219
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+A WEDDING RECEPTION                              229
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+THE NUGGET                                       237
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+JOB STANTON'S MISTAKE                            246
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+THE HOUSE IS MORTGAGED                           255
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+THE BLOW ABOUT TO FALL                           260
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+CONCLUSION                                       265
+
+
+
+
+BEN'S NUGGET;
+
+OR,
+
+A BOY'S SEARCH FOR FORTUNE.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE MOUNTAIN-CABIN.
+
+
+"What's the news, Ben? You didn't happen to bring an evenin' paper, did
+you?"
+
+The speaker was a tall, loose-jointed man, dressed as a miner in a garb
+that appeared to have seen considerable service. His beard was long and
+untrimmed, and on his head he wore a Mexican sombrero.
+
+This was Jake Bradley, a rough but good-hearted miner, who was stretched
+carelessly upon the ground in front of a rude hut crowning a high
+eminence in the heart of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
+
+Ben Stanton, whom he addressed, was a boy of sixteen, with a pleasant
+face and a manly bearing.
+
+"No, Jake," he answered with a smile, "I didn't meet a newsboy."
+
+"There ain't many in this neighborhood, I reckon," said Bradley. "I tell
+you, Ben, I'd give an ounce of dust for a New York or Boston paper. Who
+knows what may have happened since we've been confined here in this
+lonely mountain-hut? Uncle Sam may have gone to war, for aught we know.
+P'r'haps the British may be bombarding New York this moment."
+
+"I guess not," said Ben, smiling.
+
+"I don't think it likely myself," said Bradley, filling his pipe.
+"Still, there may be some astonishin' news if we could only get hold of
+it."
+
+"I don't think we can complain, Jake," said Ben, turning to a pleasanter
+subject. "We've made considerable money out of Mr. Dewey's claim."
+
+"That's so. The three weeks we've spent here haven't been thrown away,
+by a long chalk. We shall be pretty well paid for accommodatin' Dick
+Dewey by stayin' and takin' care of him."
+
+"How much gold-dust do you think we're got, Mr. Bradley?"
+
+"What!" exclaimed Bradley, taking the pipe from his mouth; "hadn't you
+better call me the Honorable Mr. Bradley, and done with it? Don't you
+feel acquainted with me yet, that you put the handle on to my name?"
+
+"Excuse me, Jake," said Ben; "that's what I meant to say, but I was
+thinking of Mr. Dewey and that's how I happened to call you Mister."
+
+"That's a different matter. Dick's got a kind of dignity, so that it
+seems natural to call him Mister; but as for me, I'm Jake Bradley, not a
+bad sort of fellow, but I don't wear store-clo'es, and I'd rather be
+called Jake by them as know me well."
+
+"All right, Jake; but you haven't answered my question."
+
+"What about?"
+
+"The gold-dust."
+
+"Oh yes. Well, I should say that the dust we've got out must be worth
+nigh on to five hundred dollars."
+
+"So much as that?" asked Ben, his eyes sparkling.
+
+"Yes, all of that. That claim of Dewey's is a splendid one, and no
+mistake. I think we ought to pay him a commission for allowing us to
+work it."
+
+"I think so too, Jake."
+
+They were sitting outside the rude hut which had been roughly put
+together on the summit of the mountain. The door was open, and what they
+said could be heard by the occupant, who was stretched on a hard pallet
+in one corner of the cabin.
+
+"Come in, you two," he called out.
+
+"Sartin, Dick," said Bradley; and he entered the cabin, followed by Ben.
+
+"What was that you were saying just now?" asked Richard Dewey.
+
+"Tell him, Ben," said Bradley.
+
+"Jake was saying that we ought to pay you a commission on the gold-dust
+we took from your claim, Mr. Dewey," said our hero, for that is Ben's
+position in our story.
+
+"Why should you?" asked Dewey.
+
+"Because it's yours. You found it, and you ought to get some good of
+it."
+
+"So I have, Jake. In the first place, I got a thousand dollars out of it
+before I fell sick--that is, sprained my ankle."
+
+"But you ain't gettin' anything out of it now."
+
+"I think I am," said Dewey, smiling and looking gratefully at his two
+friends. "I am getting the care and attention of two faithful friends,
+who will see that I do not suffer while I am laid up in this lonely
+hut."
+
+"We don't want to be paid for that, Dick."
+
+"I know that, Bradley; but I don't call it paying you to let you work
+the claim which I don't intend to work myself."
+
+"But you would work it if you were well."
+
+"No, I wouldn't," answered Dewey, with energy. "I would leave this place
+instantly and take the shortest path to San Francisco."
+
+"To see the gal that sent us out after you?"
+
+"Yes. But, Jake, suppose you call her the young lady."
+
+"Of course. You mustn't mind me, Dick. I don't know much about manners.
+I was raised kind of rough, and never had no chance to learn
+politeness. Ben, here, knows ten times as much as I do about how to
+behave among fashionable folks."
+
+"I don't know about that, Jake," said Ben. "I was brought up in the
+country, and I know precious little about fashionable folks."
+
+"Oh, well, you know how to talk. Besides, didn't you bring out Miss
+Douglas from the States?"
+
+"She brought me," said Ben.
+
+"It seems to me we are wandering from the subject," said Dewey. "It was
+a piece of good luck for me when you two happened upon this cabin where
+I lay helpless, with no one to look after me but Ki Sing."
+
+"Ki Sing took pretty good care of you for a haythen," said Bradley.
+
+"So he did. He is a good fellow, if he is a Chinaman, and far more
+grateful than many of his white brothers; but I was sighing for the
+sight of one of my own color, who would understand my wants better than
+that poor fellow, faithful as he is."
+
+"I reckon the news we brought you helped you some, Dick," said Jake
+Bradley.
+
+"Yes. It put fresh life into me to learn that Florence Douglas, my own
+dear Florence, had come out to this distant coast to search for me. But
+I tell you, Jake, it's rather tantalizing to think that she is waiting
+for me in San Francisco, while I am tied by the ankle to this lonely
+cabin so many miles away."
+
+"It won't be for long now, Dick," said Bradley. "You feel a good deal
+better, don't you?"
+
+"Yes; my ankle is much stronger than it was. Yesterday I walked about
+the cabin, and even went out of doors. I felt rather tired afterward,
+but it didn't hurt me."
+
+"All you want is a little patience, Dick. You mustn't get up too soon. A
+sprain is worse than a break, so I've often heard: I can't say I know
+from experience."
+
+"I hope you won't. It's a very trying experience, as I can testify."
+
+"You'd get well quicker if we had some doctor's stuff to put on it, but
+I reckon anyhow you'll be out in a week or ten days."
+
+"I hope so. If I could only write to Florence and let her know where
+and how I am, I wouldn't mind so much the waiting."
+
+"Don't worry about her. She's in 'Frisco, where nothing can't happen to
+her," said Bradley, whose loose grammar I cannot recommend my young
+readers to imitate.
+
+"I am not sure about that. Her guardian might find out where she is, and
+follow her even to San Francisco. If I were on the spot he could do no
+harm."
+
+"I tell you, Dick, that gal--excuse me, I mean that young lady--is a
+smart one, and I reckon she can get ahead of her guardian if she wants
+to. Ben here told me how she circumvented him at the Astor House over in
+York. She'll hold her own ag'in him, even if he does track her to
+'Frisco."
+
+Some of my readers may desire to know more about Dewey and his two
+friends, and I will sketch for their benefit the events to which Bradley
+referred.
+
+Florence Douglas was the ward of the Albany merchant, John Campbell, who
+by the terms of her father's will was entrusted with the care of her
+large property till she had attained the age of twenty-five, a period
+nearly a year distant. Mr. Campbell, anxious to secure his ward's large
+property for his son, sought to induce Florence to marry the said son,
+but this she distinctly declined to do. Irritated and disappointed, Mr.
+Campbell darkly intimated that should her opposition continue he would
+procure from two pliant physicians a certificate of her insanity and
+have her confined in that most terrible of prisons, a mad-house. The
+fear that he would carry his threat into execution nerved Florence to a
+bold movement. Being mistress of a fortune of thirty thousand dollars,
+left by her mother, she had funds enough for her purpose. She fled to
+New York, where chance made her acquainted with our hero, Ben Stanton,
+under whose escort she safely reached San Francisco, paying Ben's
+expenses in return for his protection.
+
+Arrived in San Francisco, she furnished Ben with the necessary funds to
+seek out Richard Dewey (to whom, without her guardian's knowledge, she
+was privately betrothed) and inform him of her presence in California.
+After a series of adventures Ben and his companion had found Dewey, laid
+up with a sprained ankle in a rude hut high up among the mountains. He
+had met with an accident while successfully working a rich claim near
+by.
+
+Of course Richard Dewey was overjoyed to meet friends of his own race
+who could provide for him better than his faithful attendant, Ki Sing.
+As he could not yet leave the spot, he offered to Ben and Bradley the
+privilege of working his claim.
+
+In the next chapter I will briefly explain Ben's position, and the
+object which brought him to California, and then we shall be able to
+proceed with our story.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE MISSING CHINAMAN.
+
+
+If Florence Douglas was an heiress, our young hero, Ben Stanton, was
+likewise possessed of property, though his inheritance was not a very
+large one. When his father's estate was settled it was found that it
+amounted to three hundred and sixty-five dollars. Though rather a large
+sum in Ben's eyes, he was quite aware that the interest of this amount
+would not support him. Accordingly, being ambitious, he drew from his
+uncle, Job Stanton, a worthy shoemaker, the sum of seventy-five dollars,
+and went to New York, hoping to obtain employment.
+
+In this he was disappointed, but he had the good fortune to meet Miss
+Florence Douglas, by whom he was invited to accompany her to California
+as her escort, his expenses of course being paid by his patroness. It is
+needless to say that Ben accepted this proposal with alacrity, and,
+embarking on a steamer, landed in less than a month at San Francisco. He
+did not remain here long, but started for the mining-districts, still
+employed by Miss Douglas, in search of Richard Dewey, her affianced
+husband, whom her guardian had forbidden her to marry. As we have
+already said, Ben and his chosen companion, Jake Bradley, succeeded in
+their mission, but as yet had been unable to communicate tidings of
+their success to Miss Douglas, there being no chance to send a letter to
+San Francisco from the lonely hut where they were at present living.
+
+Besides carrying out the wishes of his patroness, Ben intended to try
+his hand at mining, and had employed the interval of three weeks since
+he discovered Mr. Dewey in working the latter's claim, with the success
+already referred to.
+
+The time when the two friends are introduced to the reader is at the
+close of the day, when, fatigued by their work on the claim, they are
+glad to rest and chat. Mr. Bradley has a pipe in his mouth, and
+evidently takes considerable comfort in his evening smoke.
+
+"I wish I had a pipe for you, Ben," he said. "You don't know how it
+rests me to smoke."
+
+"I'll take your word for it, Jake," returned Ben, smiling.
+
+"Won't you take a whiff? You don't know how soothin' it is."
+
+"I don't need to be soothed, Jake. I'm glad you enjoy it, but I don't
+envy you a particle."
+
+"Well, p'r'aps you're right, Ben. Our old doctor used to say smokin'
+wasn't good for boys, but I've smoked more or less since I was twelve
+years old."
+
+"There's something I'd like better than smoking just now," said Ben.
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"Eating supper."
+
+"Just so. I wonder where that heathen Ki Sing is?"
+
+Ki Sing was cook and general servant to the little party, and performed
+his duties in a very satisfactory manner--better than either Ben or
+Bradley could have done--and left his white employers freer to work at
+the more congenial occupation of searching for gold.
+
+"Ki Sing is unusually late," said Richard Dewey. "I wonder what can have
+detained him? I am beginning to feel hungry myself."
+
+"The heathen is usually on time," said Bradley, "though he hasn't got a
+watch, any more than I have.--Dick, what time is it?"
+
+"Half-past six," answered Richard Dewey, who, though a miner, had not
+been willing to dispense with all the appliances of civilization.
+
+"Maybe Ki Sing has found another place," suggested Ben, jocosely.
+
+"He is faithful; I will vouch for that," said Dewey. "I am more afraid
+that he has met with some accident--like mine, for instance."
+
+"You won't catch a Chinaman spraining his ankle," said Bradley; "they're
+too spry for that. They'll squeeze through where a white man can't, and
+I wouldn't wonder if they could turn themselves inside out if they tried
+hard."
+
+"It is possible," suggested Dewey, "that Ki Sing may have met with some
+of our own race who have treated him roughly. You know the strong
+prejudice that is felt against the poor fellows by some who are far
+less deserving than they. They think it good sport to torment a
+Chinaman."
+
+"I can't say I like 'em much myself," said Bradley; "but I don't mind
+saying that Ki Sing is a gentleman. He is the best heathen I know of,
+and if I should come across any fellow harmin' him I reckon I'd be ready
+to take a hand myself."
+
+"We couldn't get along very well without him, Jake," said Ben.
+
+"That's where you're right, Ben. He's made himself useful to us, and no
+mistake."
+
+"I have reason to feel indebted to him," said Dewey. "Injured as I was,
+I should have fared badly but for his faithful services. I am not at all
+sure that I should have been living at this moment had not the grateful
+fellow cared for me and supplied my wants."
+
+It may be explained here that Richard Dewey had at one time rescued Ki
+Sing from some rough companions who had made up their minds to cut off
+the Chinaman's queue, thereby, in accordance with Chinese custom,
+preventing him ever returning to his native country. It was the thought
+of this service that had prompted Ki Sing to faithful service when he
+found his benefactor in need of it.
+
+Half an hour passed, and still the Chinaman did not appear.
+
+All three became anxious, especially Dewey. "Bradley," said he, "would
+you mind going out to look for Ki Sing? I'm sure something has happened
+to him."
+
+"Just what I was thinkin' of myself," said Bradley. "I'll go, and I'll
+bring him back if he's above ground."
+
+"I'll go with you, Jake," said Ben, rising from the ground on which he
+was seated.
+
+"You'd better stay with Dick Dewey," said Bradley; "maybe he'll want
+you."
+
+"I forgot that. Yes, I will stay."
+
+"No; I would rather you would go with Bradley," said the invalid. "Two
+will stand a better chance of success than one. I sha'n't need anything
+while you are away."
+
+"Just as you say, Dick.--Well, Ben, let's start along. I reckon we'll
+find Ki Sing before long, and then we'll have some supper."
+
+As the two started on their errand Richard Dewey breathed a sigh of
+relief. "I really believe I'm getting attached to Ki Sing," he said to
+himself. "He's a good fellow, if he is a Chinaman, and if ever I am
+prosperous I will take him into my service and see that he is
+comfortably provided for."
+
+The poor Chinaman, though Dewey did not suspect it, was at that moment
+in a very uncomfortable position indeed, and he himself was menaced by a
+peril already near at hand against which his helpless condition allowed
+of no defence. His lonely and monotonous life was destined to be varied
+that evening in an unpleasant manner.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+TWO GENTLEMEN OF THE ROAD.
+
+
+Perhaps two hours earlier two horsemen might have been seen riding
+slowly over a lower slope of the mountain. The horses they bestrode were
+of the Mexican breed, or, in common parlance, mustangs. They were
+themselves dressed in Mexican style, and bore a strong resemblance to
+bandits as we are apt to picture them.
+
+These gentlemen were Bill Mosely and Tom Hadley, hailing originally from
+Missouri, but not reflecting any particular credit on their native
+State. They were in fact adventurers, having a strong objection to
+honest work and a decided preference for gaining a living by unlawful
+means. The very horses they bestrode were stolen, having once belonged
+to Jake Bradley and Ben Stanton. The circumstances under which they were
+stolen will be remembered by readers of _The Young Explorer_.
+
+"Beastly place, this, Tom!" said Bill Mosely, with a strong expression
+of disgust.
+
+"I should say so," answered Hadley, who was wont by this phrase to echo
+the sentiments expressed by his companion and leader.
+
+"I wouldn't have come up here if it had proved safe to stay lower down,"
+continued Bill Mosely. "That last man we relieved of his gold-dust might
+prove troublesome if we should fall in with him again--eh, Tom?"
+
+"I should say so," remarked Mr. Hadley in a tone of sincere conviction.
+
+"I should like to see him when he wakes up and finds his bag of dust
+missing," said Mosely, with a laugh.
+
+As he spoke he drew from his pocket a good-sized bag which appeared to
+be nearly full of dust. "There must be several hundred dollars' worth
+there," he said, complacently.
+
+He expected to hear Hadley answer in his usual style, but was
+disappointed.
+
+"When are we going to divide?" asked Hadley, with an expression of
+interest not unmingled with anxiety.
+
+"You'd better let me carry it, Tom; it's all the same."
+
+"I should say so. No, I would prefer to take charge of my part," said
+Hadley, "or at least to carry the bag part of the time."
+
+Bill Mosely frowned darkly, and he brought his hand near the pocket in
+which he carried his pistol. "Hadley," he said, sternly, "do you doubt
+my honor?"
+
+"I should say--not," answered Tom Hadley in a dissatisfied tone,
+bringing out the last word after a slight pause; "but I don't see why I
+shouldn't carry the bag part of the time."
+
+"Had you doubted my honor," continued Mosely with a grand air, "though
+you are my friend, I should have been compelled to take your life. I
+never take any back talk. I chaw up any one who insults me. I'm a
+regular out-and-out desperado, I am, when I'm riled."
+
+"I've heard all that before," said Tom Hadley, rather impatiently.
+
+It was quite true, for this was the style in which Bill Mosely was
+accustomed to address new acquaintances. It had not succeeded with Jake
+Bradley, who had enough knowledge of human nature to detect the falsity
+of Mosely's pretensions and the sham character of his valor.
+
+"You've heard it before," said Mosely, severely, "but ain't it true?
+That's what I ask you, Tom Hadley."
+
+"I should say so," slipped out almost unconsciously from the lips of the
+habitual echo.
+
+"'Tis well," said Mosely, waving his hand. "You know it and you believe
+it. I'm a bad man to insult, I am. I generally chaw up them that stand
+in my way."
+
+Tom Hadley was really a braver man than Mosely, and he answered
+obstinately, "Give me half that gold-dust, or I'll take it."
+
+Bill Mosely saw his determined face and felt that it was necessary to
+back down. "I don't know why I don't shoot you," he said, trying to keep
+up his air of domination.
+
+"Because two can play at that game," said Hadley, doggedly.
+
+He produced a pouch, and Bill Mosely, much against his will, was
+compelled to divide the contents of the stolen bag, managing, however,
+to retain the larger share himself.
+
+"I don't want to quarrel with a friend," said Bill, more mildly, "but
+you don't act friendly to-day."
+
+"It's all right now," said Hadley, satisfied.
+
+"Maybe you think I don't want to act fair," continued Mosely in an
+injured tone. "Why, the very horse you are riding is a proof to the
+contrary. I didn't ask for both horses, did I?"
+
+"You couldn't ride both," answered Tom Hadley, with practical good
+sense.
+
+"I wonder where the fellows are we took them from?" said Mosely, with a
+change of subject. "The man was a regular fire-eater: I wouldn't like to
+meet him again."
+
+"I should say so," chimed in Hadley, emphatically.
+
+Bradley had paid Mosely in his own coin, and boasted of his prowess even
+more extravagantly than that braggadocio, claiming to have killed from
+seventy to eighty men in the course of his experience. Mosely had been
+taken in by his confident tone, and knowing that he was himself a sham
+desperado, though a genuine thief and highwayman, had been made to feel
+uneasy while in Bradley's company.
+
+"I wonder what became of them?" continued Mosely, thoughtfully.
+
+As Tom Hadley's special phrase could not come in here appropriately, he
+forbore to make any remark.
+
+"He thought he would scare me by his fierce talk," said Mosely, who
+would hardly have spoken so confidently had he known that Bradley was
+only two miles distant from him at that identical moment. "It takes a
+good deal to scare a man like me--eh, Tom?"
+
+"I should say so," returned Hadley, but it was noticeable that he spoke
+rather dubiously, and not with his usual positiveness.
+
+"I'm a hard man to handle," continued Mosely, complacently, relapsing
+into the style of talk which he most enjoyed. "I'm as bad as they make
+'em."
+
+"I should say so," chimed in Tom Hadley; and there was nothing doubtful
+in his tone now.
+
+Bill Mosely looked at him as if he suspected there was something
+suspicious under this speech, but Tom Hadley wore his usual look, and
+his companion dismissed his momentary doubt. "You never saw me afraid of
+any living man--eh, Tom?"
+
+"I should say so," answered Hadley.
+
+There was something equivocal in this speech, and Bill Mosely looked
+vexed.
+
+"Can't you say anything but that?" he grumbled. "It looks as if you
+doubted my statement. No man doubt my word--and lives."
+
+Tom Hadley merely shrugged his shoulders. He was not a man of brilliant
+intellectual ability or of rare penetration, but there were times when
+even he was led to suspect that his companion was a humbug. Yet Mosely
+had greater force of character, and took uncommon pains to retain his
+ascendency over his more simple-minded companion, and had in the main
+been successful, though in the matter of the gold-dust he had been
+obliged to score a defeat.
+
+As Hadley did not see fit to express any doubt of this last statement,
+Bill Mosely was content to let the matter drop, assuming that he had
+gained a victory and recovered his ascendency over his echo.
+
+They had met no one for some hours, and did not look for an encounter
+with anything wearing the semblance of humanity, when all at once Tom
+Hadley uttered an exclamation.
+
+"What is it, Tom?" asked Mosely.
+
+"Look there!" was the only answer, as Hadley, with outstretched finger,
+pointed to a Chinaman walking slowly up the hill.
+
+"It's a heathen Chinee!" exclaimed Mosely with animation.
+
+"I should say so," echoed Hadley.
+
+Mosely urged his mustang to greater speed, and soon overtook Ki Sing,
+for it was Richard Dewey's attendant whom the two adventurers had fallen
+in with.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+KI SING IN THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY.
+
+
+Ki Sing turned when he heard the sound of horses' feet, for in that
+mountain-solitude such a sound was unusual. He was not reassured by the
+appearance of the two men, whose intention seemed to be to overtake him,
+and he turned aside from the path with the intention of getting out of
+the way.
+
+"Stop there, you heathen!" called Bill Mosely in his fiercest tone.
+
+Ki Sing halted, and an expression of uneasiness came over his broad,
+flat face.
+
+"What are you doing here, you Chinese loafer?"
+
+Ki Sing did not exactly comprehend this speech, but answered mildly,
+"How do, Melican man?"
+
+"How do?" echoed Bill Mosely, laughing rather boisterously.--"Tom, the
+heathen wants to know how I do.--Well, heathen, I'm so's to be around,
+and wouldn't mind chawing up a dozen Chinamen. Where do you live?"
+
+"Up mountain," answered Ki Sing.
+
+"Which way?"
+
+The Chinaman pointed in the right direction.
+
+"What do you do for a living?"
+
+"Wait on Melican man--cookee, washee."
+
+"So you are a servant to a white man, John?"
+
+"Yes, John."
+
+"Don't you call me John, you yellow mummy! I'm not one of your
+countrymen, I reckon.--What do you say to that, Tom? The fellow's
+gettin' familiar."
+
+"I should say so," remarked Tom Hadley, with his usual originality.
+
+"What's the name of the Melican man you work for?" continued Mosely,
+after a slight pause.
+
+"Dickee Dewee," answered Ki Sing, repeating the familiar name applied by
+Bradley to the invalid. The name seemed still more odd as the Chinaman
+pronounced it.
+
+"Well, he's got a queer name, that's all I can say," continued Mosely.
+"What's your name?"
+
+"Ki Sing."
+
+"Ki Sing? How's Mrs. Ki Sing?" asked Mosely, who was disposed, like the
+cat, to play with his victim before turning and rending him.
+
+"Me got no wifee," said the Chinaman, stolidly.
+
+"Then you're in the market. Do you want to marry?"
+
+"Me no want to mally?"
+
+"So much the worse for the ladies. Well, as to this Dickee, as you call
+him? What does he do?"
+
+"He sick--lie down on bedee."
+
+"He's sick, is he? What's the matter with him?"
+
+"Fall down and hurt leggee."
+
+"Oh, that was it? What did he do before he hurt himself?"
+
+"Dig gold."
+
+Bill Mosely became more interested. "Did he find much gold?" he asked
+eagerly.
+
+"Yes, muchee," answered Ki Sing, unsuspiciously.
+
+"Does he keep it with him?"
+
+Bill Mosely betrayed a little too much interest when he asked this
+question, and the Chinaman, hitherto unsuspicious, became on his guard.
+
+"Why you wantee know?" he asked shrewdly.
+
+"Do you dare give me any of your back talk, you yellow heathen?"
+exclaimed Mosely, angrily. "Answer my question, or I'll chaw you up in
+less'n a minute."
+
+"What you ask?" said Ki Sing, innocently.
+
+"You know well enough. Where does this Dickee keep the gold he found
+before he met with an accident?"
+
+"He no tellee me," answered Ki Sing.
+
+This might be true, so that Mosely did not feel sure that the Chinaman's
+ignorance was feigned. Still, he resolved to push the inquiry, in the
+hope of eliciting some information that might be of value, for already a
+plan had come into his mind which was in accordance with his general
+character and reputation--that of relieving the invalid of his hoard of
+gold-dust.
+
+"Where do you think he keeps the gold, John?" he asked mildly.
+
+Ki Sing looked particularly vacant as he expressed his ignorance on this
+subject.
+
+"Has he got a cabin up there?" asked Mosely.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And how far might it be?"
+
+"Long way," answered Ki Sing, who wished to divert Mosely from the plan
+which the faithful servant could see he had in view.
+
+Bill Mosely was keen enough to understand the Chinaman's meaning, and
+answered, "Long or not, I will go and see your master. I am a doctor,"
+he added, winking to Hadley, "and perhaps I can help him.--Ain't I a
+doctor, Tom?"
+
+"I should say so," answered Hadley, whose respect for truth did not
+interfere with his corroborating in his usual style anything which his
+companion saw fit to assert.
+
+Ki Sing did not express any opinion on the subject of Bill Mosely's
+medical pretensions, though he was quite incredulous.
+
+"Lead the way, John," said Mosely.
+
+"Where me go?" asked the Chinaman innocently.
+
+"Go? Go to the cabin where your master lives, and that by the shortest
+path. Do you hear?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+Ki Sing, however, still faithful to the man who had befriended him in
+the hour of danger, did not direct his course toward Richard Dewey's
+cabin, but guided the two adventurers in a different direction. The
+course he took was a circuitous one, taking him no farther away from the
+cabin, but encircling the summit and drawing no nearer to it. He hoped
+that the two men, whose purpose he suspected was not honest nor
+friendly, would become tired and would give up the quest.
+
+He did not, however, understand the perseverance of Mosely when he felt
+that he was on the scent of gold.
+
+Finally, Mosely spoke. "John," he said, "is the cabin near by?"
+
+Ki Sing shook his head. "Long way," he answered.
+
+"How did you happen to get so far away from it, then, I should like to
+know?" and he examined the face of his guide sharply.
+
+But Ki Sing's broad face seemed utterly void of expression as,
+neglecting to answer the question, he reiterated his statement, "Housee
+long way."
+
+"The man's a fool, Tom," said Mosely, turning to his companion.
+
+"I should say so," was all the help he got from Hadley.
+
+"Do you know what I mean to do, Hadley?--Here, you yellow mummy, go a
+little ahead." (The Chinaman did so.)--"There's a bonanza up there in
+that cabin, wherever it is. The Chinaman says that this man with the
+queer name had got out a good deal of gold before he met with an
+accident--broke his leg, likely. Well, it stands to reason he's got the
+gold now. There ain't no chance here of sendin' off the dust, and of
+course he's got it hid somewhere in his cabin. Do you see the point,
+Tom?"
+
+"I should say so."
+
+"And I should say so too. It strikes me as a particularly good chance.
+This man is disabled and helpless. He can't prevent us walking off with
+his gold, can he?"
+
+"Suppose he won't tell us where it is?" suggested Tom Hadley with
+extraordinary mental acuteness.
+
+"Why, we'll knock him on the head or put a bullet in him, Hadley. It's
+a pity if two fire-eaters like us can't tackle a man with a broken leg.
+What do you say?"
+
+"I should say so."
+
+Fifteen minutes more passed, and they seemed to be getting no nearer
+their destination. At any rate, no cabin was in sight. Ki Sing only
+answered, when interrogated, "Long way."
+
+"Hadley," said Bill Mosely, "I begin to believe that heathen's
+misleading us. What do you say?"
+
+"I should say so."
+
+"Then I'll attend to his case.--Here, you heathen!"
+
+"Whatee want?"
+
+Bill Mosely sprang from his mustang, seized Ki Sing, and, in spite of
+howls, with Hadley's assistance tied him to a small tree with a strong
+cord he had in his pocket.
+
+"That disposes of you, my friend," he said, mounting his mustang. "I
+think we shall find the cabin better without you."
+
+The two men rode off, leaving poor Ki Sing in what appeared, considering
+the loneliness of the spot, to be hopeless captivity.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+FURTHER ADVENTURES OF BILL MOSELY.
+
+
+Bill Mosley and his companion pushed on after leaving the poor Chinaman
+tied to the tree.
+
+"The yellow heathen may starve, for all I care," said Mosely,
+carelessly. "It's all his own fault. Why didn't he speak up like a man
+and tell me what I wanted to know?"
+
+"I should say so," chimed in Tom Hadley.
+
+"The question is now, 'Whereabouts is that cabin we are in search of?'"
+
+Hadley appeared to have no idea, and no suggestion to offer.
+
+"It strikes me it must be somewhere near the top of the mountain," said
+Mosely. "What do you say?"
+
+"I should say so."
+
+"Then we'll take the shortest way to the summit. I tell you, Tom, we're
+on the track of something rich. We'll take all this fellow's gold-dust,
+and he can't help himself. It'll be richer than any claim we've worked
+yet, if it pans out as well as I expect--eh, Tom?"
+
+"I should say so, Bill," answered Hadley, with an expression of
+interest.
+
+"I tell you, Tom," said Bill Mosely, complacently, "you were in luck
+when you fell in with me. We've done pretty well since we j'ined hosses,
+pard."
+
+"I should say so--but," added Hadley, after a pause, "it would go hard
+with us if we got caught."
+
+"We don't mean to get caught," said Mosely, promptly. "As for this new
+job, there's no danger in it. This man is down with a broken leg, and he
+can't help our taking his gold. The Chinaman's out of the way, and we've
+got a clear field. Take a good look, Tom, for your eyes are better than
+mine, and tell me if you see anything that looks like a cabin anywhere
+around?"
+
+This inquiry was made some twenty minutes after they had left Ki Sing.
+They had pursued a circuitous course, or in half the time they might
+have been as near the cabin as they now were.
+
+Tom Hadley didn't answer in his customary phrase, but instead raised
+himself erect on his mustang and looked sharply about him.
+
+"Well?" demanded Mosely, impatiently.
+
+"I don't see anything that looks like a cabin," said Hadley,
+deliberately, "but I think I see smoke."
+
+"Where?" asked his companion in an eager tone.
+
+"There," said Tom Hadley, pointing with his whip in a particular
+direction.
+
+Mosely strained his eyes, but he was a trifle near-sighted and could see
+nothing.
+
+"I can't see anything," he said, "but that proves nothing. If there's
+smoke, there's a house. There's no question about that, and there's not
+likely to be more than one cabin about here. Steer in the direction of
+the smoke, Tom, and I'll follow in your tracks. My horse is getting
+tired; he'll be glad to rest for the night."
+
+"Will it be safe?" queried Hadley.
+
+"Safe enough. The Chinaman is disposed of, and as for this broken-legged
+Dewey, we'll bind him fast and set him outside of the cabin while we
+make ourselves comfortable within. I shall be sorry to inconvenience
+him, but when a man has company he must expect to be put out--eh, Tom?"
+
+"I should say so, Bill."
+
+The two worthy gentlemen kept on their way till, making a sudden turn,
+the house, which had hitherto been concealed from them by a cliff, stood
+plainly revealed.
+
+"There it is, Tom!" cried Mosely, joyfully. "We've found it, in spite of
+that lying heathen. It seems good to see a house after wandering about
+for weeks without a chance to sleep under a roof--eh, Tom?"
+
+"I should say so, Bill."
+
+It will be observed that Mr. William Mosely was fond of designating Ki
+Sing as a heathen, evidently appreciating his own superiority as a
+Christian. Yet I am inclined to think that a heathen like the Chinaman
+possessed more moral worth than a dozen Christians of the type of
+Mosely. From youth he had preyed upon the community, and his aim had
+been to get a living in any way that did not involve labor. Honesty was
+an obsolete word in his vocabulary, and a successful theft yielded him a
+satisfaction such as other men derive from the consciousness of
+well-doing. In fact, Mosely's moral nature was warped, and there was
+very little chance of his reformation.
+
+Now that the cabin was near at hand, the two men did not quicken their
+speed, for the ascent was somewhat steep and their animals were tired.
+
+"Take it easy, Tom. The whole thing's in our hands. Wonder whether
+Dewey's expectin' visitors?" he added, chuckling. "I say, Hadley, he'll
+be glad to see us--don't you think so?"
+
+"I should say so," returned Hadley, before the joke dawned upon him.
+
+"You see, we are going to relieve him of the care of that gold-dust of
+his. We're two bankers from 'Frisco, that's what we are, and we'll take
+care of all the gold-dust we can take in."
+
+"I shall want my half," said Tom Hadley, unexpectedly deviating from his
+customary formula.
+
+Mosely shrugged his shoulders. He did not quite like this new
+disposition of Hadley's to look after his own interests, but at present
+did not think it politic to say much about it. Though Tom Hadley had
+generally been subservient to him, he knew very well that if any
+difficulty should arise between them Tom would be a formidable
+antagonist. Fortunately for him, Hadley did not know his own power, or
+he would not have remained in subjection to a man whom he could have
+overcome had he been so disposed. He did not fully believe Bill Mosely's
+ridiculous boasts of his own prowess, but he was nevertheless disposed
+to overrate the man who made so many pretensions. All he asked was a
+fair share of the booty which the two together managed to secure, and
+this he had made up his mind to have.
+
+They reached the cabin at last, and halted their horses before the door.
+
+Both sprang off, and Bill Mosely, with a sign to his companion to remain
+in charge of them, entered at the open door.
+
+"Is that you, Ki Sing?" asked Dewey, whose face was turned toward the
+wall.
+
+Bill Mosely could not tell from the way he lay on the pallet, covered
+with a blanket, whether his leg were broken or not, but believed that
+this was the case. "That doesn't happen to be my name, stranger," he
+answered.
+
+Richard Dewey turned suddenly on his low bed and fixed his eyes on the
+intruder. "Who are you? what do you want?" he demanded suspiciously.
+
+"I thought I'd come round and make you a call, being in the
+neighborhood," answered Mosely, with a smile.
+
+"Who are you?"
+
+"Well, I'm not the President of the United States, nor I ain't Queen
+Victoria, as I know of," said Mosely.
+
+"You look more like a horse-thief," said Richard Dewey, bluntly.
+
+"Do you mean to insult me?" exclaimed Bill Mosely, fiercely. "Do you
+know who I am?"
+
+Dewey was not easily frightened, and he answered coolly, "You haven't
+told me yet."
+
+"Well, I'm Bill Mosely from the State of Missouri. I'm a regular tearer,
+I am. I don't take no back talk. When a man insults me I kill him."
+
+"Very well. Now I know who you are," said Richard Dewey, calmly. "Now,
+what do you want?"
+
+"How much gold-dust have you in this cabin? We may as well come to
+business."
+
+"None at all."
+
+"I know better. You can't pull wool over my eyes. Your Chinaman tells a
+different story."
+
+"Ha! Have you seen Ki Sing?" asked Dewey, interested at last.
+
+"Yes, I had the pleasure of meeting the heathen you refer to."
+
+"Where is he now? Can you tell me?"
+
+"To the best of my knowledge he is tied to a tree a mile or so from
+here. I don't think he will get away very easily."
+
+"Scoundrel! you shall answer for this!" exclaimed Richard Dewey,
+springing to his feet, and thereby showing that neither of his legs was
+broken.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+AN UNEQUAL CONTEST.
+
+
+Bill Mosely was decidedly startled when the man whom he thought helpless
+sprang up so suddenly and approached him in a menacing manner. He rose
+precipitately from the rude seat on which he had settled himself
+comfortably, his face wearing an expression of alarm.
+
+Richard Dewey paused and confronted him. A frown was on his face, and he
+appeared very much in earnest in the question he next asked. "Have you
+dared to ill-treat my servant, you scoundrel?" he demanded.
+
+"Look here, stranger," said Mosely, with a faint attempt at bluster,
+"you'd better take care what you say to me. I'm a bad man, I am."
+
+"I don't doubt it," said Dewey, contemptuously.
+
+This was not altogether satisfactory to Bill Mosely, though it
+expressed confidence in the truth of his statement.
+
+"You haven't answered my question," continued Dewey. "What have you done
+with my servant?"
+
+"Perhaps he wasn't your servant," said Bill Mosely, evasively.
+
+"There is but one Chinaman in this neighborhood," said Richard Dewey
+impatiently, "and he is my faithful servant. Did you tie him to a tree?"
+
+"He was impudent to me," answered Bill Mosely, uneasily.
+
+"Ki Sing is never impudent to any one," returned Dewey, his eyes
+flashing with anger. "Tell me what you did with him, or I will fell you
+to the ground."
+
+"I didn't harm him," said Bill Mosely, hastily. "I wanted to teach him a
+lesson; that is all."
+
+"And so you tied him to a tree, did you?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Then go back and release him instantly, or it will be the worse for
+you. I would go with you, to make sure that you did so, but my ankle is
+weak. Where did you leave him?"
+
+"A little way down the hill."
+
+"Then go at once and release him. If you fail to do it, some day I shall
+meet you again and I will make you bitterly repent it."
+
+"All right, stranger; make your mind easy."
+
+Bill Mosely turned to leave the cabin, and Richard Dewey threw himself
+down on the pallet once more.
+
+But Mosely had no intention of letting the matter rest there. Had he
+been alone he would not have ventured on any further conflict with
+Dewey, who, invalid as he was, had shown so much spirit; but he felt
+considerable confidence in his companion, who was strong and powerful.
+
+He approached Tom Hadley and whispered in his ear. Tom nodded his head,
+and the two stealthily approached the entrance again and re-entered the
+cabin.
+
+Richard Dewey had laid himself down on the pallet, thinking that Bill
+Mosely had gone about his business, when Tom Hadley, who had been
+assigned to this duty by his more timid companion, threw himself upon
+the invalid and overpowered him.
+
+"Perhaps you'll insult a gentleman again," exclaimed Mosely tauntingly
+as he stood by and witnessed the ineffectual struggles of Tom's victim,
+who had been taken at disadvantage.--"Here's the cord, Tom, tie his
+hands and feet."
+
+"You're contemptible cowards," exclaimed Dewey. "It takes two of you to
+overpower a sick man."
+
+"You don't look very sick," said Mosely, tauntingly.
+
+"I have sprained my ankle or I would defy both of you."
+
+"Talk's cheap!" retorted Bill Mosely.
+
+"What is your object in this outrageous assault upon a stranger?"
+demanded Dewey.
+
+"We'll tell you presently," answered Mosely.--"Now tie his feet, Tom."
+
+"Be careful of my ankle--it is sore and sensitive," said Dewey,
+addressing himself to Tom Hadley. "You need not tie me further. In my
+present condition I am no match for you both. Tell me why it is you
+have chosen to attack a man who has never harmed you?"
+
+Tom Hadley looked to Mosely to answer.
+
+"I'll tell you what we want, Dewey, if that is your name," said the
+superior rascal. "We want that gold-dust you've got hidden about here
+somewhere."
+
+"Who told you I had any gold-dust?" inquired the invalid.
+
+"Your servant. He let it out without thinking, but when we wanted him to
+guide us here, he wouldn't. That's why we left him tied to a tree--isn't
+it, Tom?"
+
+"I should say so."
+
+"Poor fellow! I am glad to hear he was faithful even when he found
+himself in the power of two such ruffians as you."
+
+"Look here, Dewey: don't give us any of your back talk. It ain't
+safe--eh, Tom?"
+
+"I should say so, Bill."
+
+"I intend to express my opinion of you and your villainous conduct,"
+said Dewey, undaunted, "whatever you choose to call it. So Ki Sing
+wouldn't guide you here?"
+
+"No, he led us round in a circle. When we found it out we settled his
+hash pretty quick--"
+
+"Like cowards, as you were."
+
+"Are we going to stand this, Tom?" asked Bill, fiercely.
+
+Tom Hadley shrugged his shoulder. He did not enjoy what Bill Mosely
+called "back talk" as well as his partner, and it struck him as so much
+waste of time. He wanted to come to business, and said briefly, "Where's
+the gold?"
+
+"Yes, Dewey, let us know what you have done with your gold."
+
+"So you are thieves, you two?"
+
+"I should say so," interjected Tom Hadley.
+
+"You're a fool," ejaculated Bill Mosely, frowning. "What makes you give
+yourself away?"
+
+"Because," said Hadley, bluntly, "we are thieves, or we wouldn't be
+after this man's gold."
+
+"That ain't the way to put it," said Bill Mosely, who shrank from
+accepting the title to which his actions entitled him. "We're bankers
+from 'Frisco, and we are going to take care of Dewey's gold, as he ain't
+in a situation to take care of it himself."
+
+"You are very kind," said Dewey, who, embarrassing as his position was,
+rather enjoyed the humor of the situation. "So you are a banker, and
+your friend a thief? I believe I have more respect for the thief, who
+openly avows his objects.--Tom, if that is your name, I am sorry that
+you are not in a better business. That man is wholly bad, but I believe
+you could lead an honest life."
+
+Tom Hadley said nothing, but he looked thoughtful. His life had been a
+lawless one, but he was not the thorough-going scoundrel that Bill
+Mosely was, and would have been glad if circumstances had favored a more
+creditable mode of life.
+
+"We're wastin' time, Dewey," said Bill Mosely. "Where's the gold-dust?"
+
+"Sure you know I have it? I leave you to find it for yourself," answered
+the sick man, who was never lacking for courage, and did not tremble,
+though wholly in the power of these men.
+
+"What shall we do, Tom?" asked Mosely.
+
+"Hunt for the gold," suggested Tom Hadley.
+
+If Mosely had judged it of any use to threaten Dewey, he would have done
+so, hoping to force him to reveal the hiding-place of the gold; but the
+undaunted spirit thus far displayed by his victim convinced him that the
+attempt would be unsuccessful. He therefore proceeded, with the help of
+his companion, to search the hut. The floor was of earth, and he
+occupied himself in digging down into it, considering that the most
+likely place of concealment for the treasure.
+
+Richard Dewey watched the work going on in silence.
+
+"If only Ben and Bradley would come back," he said to himself, "I should
+soon be free of these rascals. They won't find the gold where they are
+looking, but I needn't tell them that."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+TIED TO A TREE.
+
+
+When Ben and his friend Bradley left the cabin in search of Ki Sing,
+they were puzzled to fix upon the direction in which it was best to go.
+There was no particular reason to decide in favor of any one against the
+others.
+
+"Shall we separate, Jake, or shall we go together?" asked Ben.
+
+"I think we had better stick together, Ben. Otherwise, if one succeeds
+he won't have any way of letting the other know."
+
+"That's true."
+
+"Besides, we may need each other's help," added Bradley.
+
+"You mean in case Ki Sing has met with an accident?"
+
+"Well, no; I don't exactly mean that, Ben."
+
+"Perhaps," said Ben, laughing, "you think two pairs of eyes better than
+one."
+
+"That's true, Ben; but you haven't caught my idea."
+
+"Then, suppose you catch it for me and give me the benefit of it."
+
+"I think," said Bradley, not smiling at this sally of Ben's, "that our
+Chinese friend has fallen in with some rough fellows who have done him
+harm."
+
+"I hope not," said Ben, sobered by this suggestion.
+
+"So do I. Ki Sing is a good fellow, if he is a heathen, and I'd like to
+scalp the man that ill-treats him."
+
+"There are not many travellers among these mountains."
+
+"No, but there are some. Some men are always pulling up stakes and
+looking for better claims. Besides, we are here, and why shouldn't
+others come here as well?"
+
+"That is so."
+
+"I think, Ben, we'll keep along in this direction," said Bradley,
+indicating a path on the eastern slope of the hill. "I haven't any
+particular reason for it, but I've got a sort of idea that this is the
+right way."
+
+"All right, Jake; I will be guided by you. I hope you're mistaken about
+Ki Sing's fate. Why couldn't he have fallen and sprained his ankle, like
+Mr. Dewey?"
+
+"Of course he could, but it isn't likely he has."
+
+"Why not?"
+
+"Because Chinamen, I have always noticed, are cautious and supple. They
+are some like cats; they fall on their feet. They are not rash like
+white men, but know better how to take care of their lives and limbs.
+That's why I don't think Ki Sing has tumbled down or hurt himself in any
+way."
+
+"Of course he wouldn't leave us without notice," said Ben, musingly.
+
+"Certainly not: that isn't Ki Sing's way. He's faithful to Dick Dewey,
+and won't leave him as long as Dick is laid up. I never had much idea of
+Chinamen before, and I don't know as I have now, but Ki Sing is a good
+fellow, whatever you may say of his countrymen. They're not all honest.
+I was once robbed by a Chinaman, but I'll bet something on Ki Sing. He
+might have robbed Dick when he was helpless and dependent, before we
+came along, but he didn't do it. There are plenty of white men you
+couldn't say that of."
+
+"For instance, the gentlemen who stole our horses."
+
+"It makes me mad whenever I think of that little transaction," said
+Bradley. "As for that braggart, Mosely, he'll come to grief some of
+these days. He'll probably die with his boots on and his feet some way
+from the ground. Before that happens I'd like a little whack at him
+myself."
+
+"I owe him a debt too," said Ben. "His running off with my mustang cost
+me a good many weary hours. But hark! what's that?" said Ben, suddenly.
+
+"What's what?"
+
+"I thought I heard a cry."
+
+"Where away?"
+
+"To the left."
+
+Jake Bradley halted and inclined his ear to listen.
+
+"Ben," said he, looking up, "I believe we're on the scent. That cry came
+either from a Chinaman or a cat."
+
+Ben couldn't help laughing, in spite of the apprehensions which the
+words of his companion suggested. "Let us push on, then," he said.
+
+Three minutes later the two came in sight of poor Ki Sing, chafing in
+his forced captivity and making ineffectual attempts to release himself
+from his confinement.
+
+"That's he, sure enough," exclaimed Jake Bradley, excited. "The poor
+fellow's regularly treed."
+
+The Chinaman had not yet seen the approach of his friends, for he
+happened to be looking in another direction.
+
+"Ki Sing!" called Ben.
+
+An expression of relief and joy overspread the countenance of the
+unfortunate captive when he saw our hero and Bradley.
+
+"How came you here, Ki Sing?" asked Bradley. "Did you tie yourself to
+the tree?"
+
+"No, no," replied the Chinaman, earnestly. "Velly bad men tie Ki Sing."
+
+"How many of them bad men were there?" queried Bradley.
+
+"Two."
+
+"That's one apiece for us, Ben," said Bradley. "There a job ahead for
+us."
+
+At the same time he busied himself in cutting the cord that confined the
+poor Chinaman to the tree, and Ki Sing, with an expression of great
+relief and contentment, stretched his limbs and chafed his wrists and
+ankles, which were sore from the cutting of the cord.
+
+"Now, Ki Sing, tell us a little more about them men. What did they look
+like?"
+
+The Chinaman, in the best English he had at command, described the two
+men who had perpetrated the outrage.
+
+"Did you hear either of them call the other by name?" inquired Bradley.
+
+"One Billee; the other Tommee," answered Ki Sing, who remembered the way
+in which they addressed each other.
+
+"Why, those are the names of the men who stole our horses!" said Ben, in
+surprise.
+
+"That's so!" exclaimed Bradley, in excitement. "It would be just like
+them scamps to tie up a poor fellow like Ki Sing.--I say, Ki, did them
+fellows have horses?"
+
+"Yes," answered the Chinaman.
+
+"I believe they're the very fellows," cried Bradley. "I hope they are,
+for there's a chance of overhauling them.--Why did they tie you, Ki
+Sing?"
+
+Ki Sing explained that they had tried to induce him to guide them to
+Richard Dewey's cabin, but that he was sure they wanted to steal his
+gold, and he had led them astray.
+
+"That's the sort of fellow Ki Sing is," said Bradley, nodding to Ben;
+"you see, he wouldn't betray his master."
+
+"So they tie me to tlee," continued the poor fellow. "I thought I stay
+here all night."
+
+"You didn't take us into the account, Ki Sing. When these scoundrels
+left you where did they go?"
+
+Ki Sing pointed.
+
+"And you think they went in search of the cabin?"
+
+"Yes--they say so."
+
+"Did they know we were there--Ben and I?"
+
+"No; me only say Dickee Dewey."
+
+"Did you say that Dewey was sick?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"It is clear," said Bradley, turning to Ben, "that them rascals were
+bent on mischief. From what Ki Sing told them they concluded that Dewey
+would be unable to resist them, and that they would have a soft thing
+stealing his gold-dust."
+
+"They may have found the cabin and be at work there now," suggested Ben.
+
+"So they may," answered Bradley, hastily. "What a fool I am to be
+chattering here when Dick may be in danger!--Stir your stumps, Ki Sing.
+We're goin' back to the cabin as fast as our legs can carry us. I only
+hope we'll be in time to catch the scoundrels."
+
+Not without anxiety the three friends retraced their steps toward the
+little mountain-hut which was at present their only home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+TURNING THE TABLES.
+
+
+When the three friends came in view of the cabin, the first sight which
+attracted their attention was the two mustangs, who stood, in patient
+enjoyment of the rest they so much needed, just outside. Their unlawful
+owners, as we know, were engaged inside in searching for gold-dust,
+without the slightest apprehension or expectation of interference.
+
+"That's my mustang," exclaimed Bradley in a tone of suppressed
+excitement. "I never looked to lay eyes on him again, but, thank the
+Lord! the thief has walked into a trap which I didn't set for him. We'll
+have a reckoning, and that pretty soon."
+
+"How do you know it's your mustang?" asked Ben.
+
+"There's a white spot on the left flank. The other one's yours: I know
+it by his make, though I can't lay hold of any sign. Even if I didn't
+know him, his bein' in company with mine makes it stand to reason that
+it belongs to you."
+
+"I shall be glad to have it again," said Ben, "but we may have a tussle
+for them."
+
+"I'm ready," said Jake Bradley, grimly.
+
+By this time they had come to a halt to consider the situation.
+
+"I don't hear anything," said Bradley, listening intently. "I expect the
+skunks must be inside. Pray Heaven they haven't harmed poor Dewey!"
+
+Just then Dewey's voice was heard, and they were so near that they could
+distinguish his words.
+
+"Well, gentlemen," he said, "how are you getting on? Have you found
+anything yet?"
+
+"No, curse it!" responded Mosely. "Suppose you give us a hint."
+
+"Thank you, but I don't see how that's going to benefit me. If you find
+the money you mean to take it, don't you?"
+
+"I should say so," answered Tom Hadley, frankly.
+
+Richard Dewey smiled. "I commend your frankness," he said. "Well, you
+can't expect a man to assist in robbing himself, can you?"
+
+"You're mighty cool," growled Bill Mosely.
+
+"On the contrary, my indignation is very warm, I assure you."
+
+"Look here, Dewey," said Mosely, pausing: "I'm goin' to make you a
+proposition."
+
+"Go on."
+
+"Of course we shall find this gold-dust of yours, but it's rather hard
+and troublesome work; so I'll tell you what we'll do. If you'll tell us
+where to find it, we'll leave a third of it for you. That'll be square,
+won't it? One part for me, one for my pard, and one for you? What do you
+say?"
+
+"That you are very kind to allow me a third of what belongs wholly to
+me. But even if I should think this a profitable arrangement to enter
+into, how am I to feel secure against your carrying off all of the
+treasure?"
+
+"You can trust to the honor of a gentleman," laid Mr. William Mosely,
+pompously.
+
+"Meaning you?" asked Dewey, with a laugh.
+
+"Meaning me, of course, and when perhaps for myself, perhaps for my pard
+also--eh, Tom?"
+
+"I should say so, Bill."
+
+"I've heard there's honor among thieves," said Dewey, smiling, "and this
+appears to be an illustration of it. Well, gentlemen, I'm sorry to say I
+don't feel that confidence in your honor or your word which would
+justify me in accepting your kind proposal."
+
+"Do you doubt my word?" blustered Mosely.
+
+"I feel no doubt on the subject," answered Dewey.
+
+"I accept your apology," said Mosely; "it's lucky you made it. Me and my
+friend don't stand no insults. We don't take no back talk. We're bad men
+when we get into a scrimmage--eh, Tom?"
+
+"I don't doubt your word in the least," said Dewey. "It gives me
+pleasure to assent cordially to the description you give of yourselves."
+
+Tom Hadley, who was rather obtuse, took this as a compliment, but Mosely
+was not altogether clear whether Dewey was not chaffing them. "That
+sounds all right," said he, suspiciously, "if you mean it."
+
+"Oh, set your mind quite at rest on that subject, Bill, if that is your
+name. You may be sure that I mean everything I say."
+
+"Then you won't give us a hint where to dig?"
+
+"I am sorry to disoblige you, but I really couldn't."
+
+"Do you hear that, Ben?" said Jake Bradley, his mouth distended with a
+grin. "Dick's chaffin' them scoundrels, and they can't see it. It looks
+as if they was huntin' for the gold-dust. They haven't found anything
+yet, and they haven't hurt Dick, or he wouldn't talk as cool as he
+does."
+
+There was a brief conference, and then the first movement was made by
+the besieging-party.
+
+Ki Sing, by Bradley's direction, walked to the entrance of the hut and
+looked placidly in.
+
+As Mosely looked up he saw the Chinaman's face looking like a full moon,
+and for an instant he was stupefied. He could not conceive how his
+victim could have escaped from his captivity.
+
+"Tom," he ejaculated, pointing to the doorway, "look there!"
+
+"I should say so!" ejaculated Tom Hadley, no less surprised than his
+friend.
+
+"How did you get here?" demanded Bill Mosely, addressing the Chinaman.
+
+"Me walk up hill," answered Ki Sing, with a bland smile.
+
+"How did you get away from the tree? That's what I mean, you stupid."
+
+"Fliend come along--cut stling," answered the Chinaman, pronouncing his
+words in Mongolian fashion.
+
+Bill Mosely was startled. So Ki Sing had a friend. Was the friend with
+him? "Where is your friend?" he asked abruptly.
+
+"That my fliend," said the crafty Ki Sing, pointing to his master on the
+pallet in the corner.
+
+"Yes, Ki Sing," said Dewey, "we are friends and will remain so, my good
+fellow."
+
+Though he did not quite understand why Ben and Jake Bradley did not
+present themselves, he felt sure that they were close at hand, and that
+his unwelcome visitors would very soon find it getting hot for them.
+
+"Look here, you yellow baboon!" said Bill Mosely, angrily, "you know
+what I mean. This man here didn't free you from the tree. Anyway, you
+were a fool to come back. Do you know what I am going to do with you?"
+
+Ki Sing shook his head placidly.
+
+"I am going to tie you hand and foot and roll you down hill. You'd
+better have stayed where you were."
+
+"No want loll down hillee," said the Chinaman, without, however,
+betraying any fear.
+
+"I sha'n't ask whether you like it or not. But stop! Perhaps you can
+help us. Do you know where the gold-dust is?"
+
+"Yes," answered Ki Sing.
+
+Bill Mosely's face lighted up with pleasure. He thought he saw the way
+out of his difficulty.
+
+"That's the very thing!" he cried, turning to his partner--"eh, Tom?"
+
+"I should say so, Bill."
+
+"Just show us where it is, and we won't do you any harm."
+
+"If my fliend, Dickee Dewee, tell me to, I will," said Ki Sing.
+
+Dewey, thus appealed to, said, "No, Ki Sing; they only want to rob me,
+and I am not willing to have you show them."
+
+"You'd better shut up, Dewey," said Mosely, insolently; "you're a dead
+duck, and you're only gettin' this foolish heathen into trouble. We've
+got tired of waitin' 'round here, and--"
+
+"I am ready to excuse you any time," said Dewey. "Don't stay on my
+account, I beg. In fact, the sooner you leave the better it will please
+me."
+
+Bill Mosely, who didn't fancy Dewey's sarcasm, frowned fiercely and
+turned again to Ki Sing. "Will you show us or not?" he demanded.
+
+"Velly solly," said Ki Sing, with a childish smile, "but Dickee Dewee
+won't let me."
+
+With an oath Mosely sprang to the doorway and tried to clutch the
+Chinaman, when the latter slid to one side and Jake Bradley confronted
+him.
+
+"You'd better begin with me, Bill Mosely," he said.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+BRADLEY'S SIGNAL VICTORY.
+
+
+Bill Mosely started back as if he had seen a rattlesnake, and stared at
+Jake Bradley in mingled surprise and dismay.
+
+"You didn't expect to see me, I reckon?" said Bradley, dryly.
+
+Mosely still stared at him, uncertain what to say or what to do.
+
+"I take it very kind of you to bring back the hosses you borrowed a few
+weeks since. You took 'em rather sudden, without askin' leave; it was a
+kind of oversight on your part."
+
+"I don't know what you mean," answered Mosely, determined to brazen it
+out and keep the horses if possible, for he was lazy and a pedestrian
+tramp would not have suited him very well.
+
+"You know what I mean well enough, Bill Mosely. If you don't, them
+mustangs outside may refresh your recollection. They look kinder fagged
+out. You've worked 'em too hard, Mosely."
+
+"Those mustangs are ours. We bought 'em," said Mosely, boldly.--"Didn't
+we, Tom?"
+
+"I should say so," remarked Hadley, with striking originality.
+
+"That's a lie, Tom," remarked Bradley, calmly, "and you know it as well
+as I do."
+
+"Are we goin' to stand that, Tom?" blustered Mosely, whose courage was
+beginning to revive, as he had thus far only seen Bradley, and
+considered that the odds were two to one in his favor. Of course the
+Chinaman counted for nothing.
+
+Tom Hadley looked a little doubtful, for he could see that the enemy,
+though apparently single-handed, was a man of powerful frame and
+apparently fearless even to recklessness. He had a strong suspicion that
+Bill Mosely was a coward and would afford him very little assistance in
+the event of a scrimmage.
+
+"If you can't stand it," said Bradley, "sit down, if you want to."
+
+Thus far, Richard Dewey had remained silent, but he wished to
+participate in the defence of their property if there should be need,
+and of course must be released first.
+
+"Jake," said he, "these fellows have tied me hand and foot. They
+couldn't have done it if I had not been partially disabled. Send in Ki
+Sing to cut the cords."
+
+"They dared to tie you?" said Bradley, sternly.--"Mosely, what was that
+for?"
+
+"To remove one obstacle in the way of plunder," Dewey answered for them.
+
+"They're not only hoss-thieves, but thieves through and through. Since
+they tied you, they must untie you.--Mosely, go and cut the cords."
+
+"I am not a slave to be ordered round," returned Mosely, haughtily.
+
+"What are you, then?"
+
+"A gentleman."
+
+"Then you'll be a dead gentleman in less than a minute if you don't do
+as I tell you."
+
+As he spoke he drew out his revolver and levelled it at Mosely.
+
+The latter turned pale. "Don't handle that we'pon so careless,
+stranger," he said. "It might go off."
+
+"So it might--as like as not," answered Bradley, calmly.
+
+"Put it up," said Mosely, nervously.--"Tom, just cut them cords."
+
+"Tom, you needn't do it.--Mosely, you're the man for that duty. Do you
+hear?"
+
+Bill Mosely hesitated. He didn't like to yield and be humiliated before
+the man over whom he had retained so long an ascendency.
+
+"You'd better be quick about it," said Bradley, warningly. "This here
+we'pon goes off terrible easily. I don't want to shoot you, but there
+might be an accident. I've killed twenty-one men with it already. You'll
+be the twenty-second."
+
+That was hint enough. Pride gave way, and Bill Mosely knelt down and cut
+the cords which confined Dewey, and the invalid, with a sense of relief,
+sat up on his pallet and watched the conference.
+
+"There! are you satisfied?" asked Mosely, sullenly.
+
+"It'll do as far as it goes, Mosely," said Bradley. "I wouldn't advise
+you to try any more of them tricks."
+
+He lowered his weapon, and was about to replace it, when Mosely, who had
+made a secret sign to his companion, sprang forward simultaneously with
+Tom Hadley and seized the intrepid Bradley.
+
+The attack was sudden, and also unexpected, for Bradley had such a
+contempt for the prowess of William Mosely that he had not supposed him
+capable of planning or carrying out so bold an attack. It must be
+admitted that he was taken at disadvantage, and might have been
+temporarily overpowered, for Tom Hadley was strong, and Mosely, though a
+coward, was nerved by desperation.
+
+Richard Dewey saw his friend's danger, but, unhappily, he had no weapon
+at hand.
+
+But help was not long in coming.
+
+Concealed by the walls of the cabin, Ben had heard all that had been
+said, and observed the attack upon his comrade.
+
+He did not hesitate a moment, but sprang forward and showed himself at
+Bradley's side.
+
+"Let him go, or I'll shoot," he exclaimed in a tone of command, pointing
+at Mosely the twin brother of the revolver which Bradley owned.
+
+"Confusion!" ejaculated Mosely, in fresh dismay.
+
+"Let go," repeated Ben, firmly.
+
+Bill Mosely released Bradley, and the latter threw off the grasp of Tom
+Hadley.
+
+"Now," said he, as standing side by side with Ben he confronted the two
+thieves, "shall we shoot?"
+
+"No, no," said Mosely, nervously.
+
+"Serve you right if we did. So you thought you'd got me, did you? You
+didn't know about Ben, there. He ain't half your size, but he's got
+twice the courage.--Ben, what shall we do with them?"
+
+Bill Mosely turned toward Ben, anxious to hear what our hero would say.
+He was entirely in the power of the two friends, as he realized.
+
+"Serve them as they served Ki Sing," suggested Ben.
+
+"That's a good idea, that is!--Here, you two rascals, trot out here."
+
+Following directions, the two men emerged from the cabin and stood on
+one side of the doorway, feeling that they would gladly be in some other
+part of California at that precise moment.
+
+"Mosely, do you see that tree?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Go to it."
+
+Bill Mosely slowly and unwillingly proceeded to do as he was told.
+
+"Ki Sing," said Jake Bradley to the Chinaman, who was standing near at
+hand, his face wearing a bland and contented smile, "have you any cord
+in your pocket?"
+
+"Yes," answered the Celestial.
+
+"Tie that man to the tree."
+
+Ki Sing approached to follow instructions, when Bill Mosely shouted,
+"I'll brain you, you yaller heathen, if you dare to touch me!"
+
+"Just as you say, squire," said Bradley, nonchalantly raising his
+revolver; "if you'd prefer to be shot I'm a very accommodatin' man, and
+I'll oblige you. I guess it'll be better, as we'll save all trouble."
+
+"Stop! stop!" cried Mosely, in dismay. "He can tie me."
+
+"You've changed your mind. I thought you would," said Bradley.--"Ki
+Sing, go ahead."
+
+With native dexterity, and not without a feeling of satisfaction easily
+understood under the circumstances, Ki Sing proceeded to tie his former
+captor, but present captive, to a stout sapling.
+
+"Is it strong?" asked Bradley.
+
+"Velly stlong," answered the Chinaman, with a satisfied look.
+
+"That's good.--Now, Tom, it's your turn. There's your tree! Annex
+yourself to it."
+
+Tom Hadley saw the futility of resistance, and quietly allowed himself
+to be confined in the same manner as his companion.
+
+When both were thus disposed of Jake Bradley turned to the Chinaman:
+
+"Now, Ki Sing, let us have some supper as soon as possible. We've been
+doin' considerable business, Ben and I, and we're as hungry as
+bears.--Good-night, Mosely. Hope you'll have a good night's rest!"
+
+"You are not going to leave us here all night, are you?" said Bill
+Mosely, uneasily.
+
+"That's just what I'm goin' to do. I'll let you go in the mornin' if you
+behave yourself. Still, if you'd rather be shot I can accommodate you."
+
+"What a bloodthirsty brute!" ejaculated the unhappy Mosely as Bradley
+disappeared within the doorway.
+
+"I should say so!" echoed Tom Hadley from the other tree.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+"THE BEST OF FRIENDS MUST PART."
+
+
+Mosely and his companion continued in captivity through the night. Some
+of my readers may consider the punishment a severe one, and it must be
+admitted that it was attended with no small share of discomfort. But for
+that time it was an exceedingly mild penalty for the offence which the
+two men had committed. In the early days of California, theft was
+generally punished in the most summary manner by hanging the culprit
+from a limb of the nearest tree, and that, in the majority of cases,
+would have been the fate of Bill Mosely and Tom Hadley.
+
+But neither Bradley nor Ben was willing to go to such extremes. Jake
+Bradley had had rough experiences, and he was no soft-hearted
+sentimentalist, but he had a natural repugnance to taking the life of
+his fellow-creatures.
+
+"Money," he said on one occasion to Ben, "ain't to be measured ag'in a
+man's life. I don't say I wouldn't kill a man for some things, though I
+should hate to mightily, but it wouldn't be on account of robbery. I
+wouldn't have a man's blood on my conscience for such a thing as that."
+
+It is needless to say that our young hero, whose heart was warm and
+humane, agreed fully with his older companion.
+
+When the two friends got up in the morning and went out of the cabin,
+they found their two captives in the same position in which they had
+left them. They looked weary and were stiff in the limbs, as well they
+might be.
+
+"Well, my friends," said Bradley, "I hope you've passed a pleasant
+night."
+
+"I'm almost dead," growled Bill Mosely. "I feel as if I'd been here a
+week."
+
+"Do you feel the same way?" inquired Bradley, addressing Tom Hadley.
+
+"I should say so," answered Hadley, in a voice of intense disgust.
+
+"It was your own choice, Mosely," said Jake Bradley. "It was either all
+night braced up against a tree, or to be shot at once and put out of
+your misery."
+
+"Who wants to be shot?" returned Mosely. "That would be worse than
+stayin' here all night. You might have let us go last night."
+
+"So I might, but I wanted to teach you a lesson. You know very well,
+Bill Mosely, you'd have fared a good deal worse with some men. You'd
+have been swingin' from the nearest bough, and so would your friend.
+You'll come to that some time, but I'd rather some one else would hang
+you. It ain't a job I hanker after."
+
+"Are you goin' to set us free?" asked Mosely, impatiently, not enjoying
+Bradley's prediction as to his future fate.
+
+"Yes, I think I will--on one condition."
+
+"Go ahead! I'll agree to anything."
+
+"That you'll leave this part of California and not come back. I don't
+want you to cross my path ag'in."
+
+"You can bet I don't mean to," said Mosely; and there is no doubt he was
+entirely in earnest.
+
+"Do you make the same promise, Tom?" asked Bradley, turning to Hadley.
+
+"I should say so," returned Hadley; and there is no reason to doubt his
+sincerity also.
+
+"You see, my friends, you don't appear to know the difference between
+your property and mine, particularly when it comes to hosses. It is an
+unfortunate little peculiarity of yours that will bring your life to an
+untimely end some of these days. If you should ever reform and set up as
+respectable men, I might be willin' to know you, but there's about as
+much chance of that, accordin' to my reckonin', as of water runnin' up
+hill."
+
+While he was expressing himself thus he was cutting the cords of his
+prisoners, and they took the first chance to stretch their cramped
+limbs.
+
+"Feel better, don't you?" asked Bradley, smiling.
+
+"I should say so," answered Hadley.
+
+"Couldn't you give us something to eat?" asked Mosely; "I haven't eaten
+a mouthful since yesterday noon, and I feel faint."
+
+"Ki Sing," said Bradley, "bring out some victuals. These men are not
+particular friends of mine, but we won't send them away hungry. I've
+known what it is to fast for thirty-six hours at a stretch, and I
+understand how it feels."
+
+Ki Sing brought out some cold meat and other plain food, which the two
+adventurers ate as if they were famished. Their long fast and exposure
+during the night had sharpened their appetites and lent a keener zest to
+their enjoyment of the meal.
+
+When they had finished Jake Bradley pointed down the mountain. "You've
+had your breakfast," he said, "and now there is only one thing more. I
+want to see you travel."
+
+Bill Mosely looked askance at the two mustangs, which were tied only a
+few rods off.
+
+Jake Bradley caught the direction of his glance. "It's no go, my
+friend," he said. "You don't borrow our mustangs this time. We shall
+have occasion to use them ourselves. It won't do you any harm to try
+your own legs for a while."
+
+Bill Mosely wasn't easily abashed. He was lazy, and the prospect of
+tramping all day was by no means agreeable to him. Thanks to his last
+robbery, he and his companion were tolerably well supplied with
+gold-dust, which was a common circulating medium in California at that
+time. An idea struck him, which he lost no time in carrying out. "What
+value do you set on them horses?" he asked.
+
+"What makes you ask?" inquired Jake Bradley, with some curiosity.
+
+"We'll buy 'em if you'll take a fair price."
+
+"Buy our mustangs! Have you got the money?"
+
+"We've got gold-dust."
+
+"Where did you get it? I'll warrant you didn't work for it."
+
+"That's our business," answered Mosely, stiffly. "The question is, Do
+you want to sell?"
+
+"No, I don't; and if I did I should want to know whose money I was
+takin'."
+
+Bill Mosely was disappointed. In that lonely neighborhood it was hardly
+likely there would be any other opportunity of obtaining horses, and
+there was nothing for it but to walk.
+
+"You haven't got any other business, have you, Mosely?" asked Bradley.
+
+"No.--Tom, come on."
+
+"Good-bye, then. Our acquaintance has been brief, Mosely, but I know
+you as well as if we'd lived in the same town for years. You're a fine
+man, you are, and an ornament to your native State; but if you ain't a
+little more careful you'll be likely to die young, and the world will
+lose a man who in his line can't be beat."
+
+Bill Mosely did not attempt any reply to this farewell, but strode down
+the sloping path, closely followed by Tom Hadley.
+
+When he had got out of hearing of his late captors he turned to Hadley
+and said, "I hate that man! He has put a stain on my honor; he has
+insulted and outraged me."
+
+"I should say so," observed Tom Hadley.
+
+"He has treated you just as badly, Hadley; that stain must be washed out
+in blood."
+
+"When?" inquired his companion, in a matter-of-fact manner.
+
+"I don't know. Some time. He has had the advantage over us this time,
+but we shall meet again. Do you hear that, Tom Hadley?" continued
+Mosely, in a theatrical tone, raising his voice at the same time--"we
+shall meet again."
+
+"I don't want to meet him again," said Hadley.
+
+"You don't comprehend me. When we meet it will be our turn to deal with
+him."
+
+"Just as you say," returned Tom Hadley, varying his usual formula.
+
+"It's very unlucky we went up to that cabin," said Bill, after a pause.
+
+"I should say so," chimed in Tom, very emphatically.
+
+"It was cursed ill-luck, but how could we know that that dare-devil was
+a friend of Dewey's? If we'd let well enough alone, we shouldn't have
+lost our horses and been compelled to tramp on foot over these
+mountains."
+
+"Where are we going?" asked Tom Hadley.
+
+"Down hill," answered Mosely briefly.
+
+This answer did not appear to Tom Hadley to contain much information,
+but his mind was not active enough to frame another question, and the
+two plodded along in silence.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+PLANS FOR DEPARTURE.
+
+
+The recovery of the horses was in one respect especially fortunate.
+Richard Dewey was anxious to leave the mountain-cabin as soon as
+possible and make his way to San Francisco, where, as we know, his
+promised wife was anxiously awaiting him. But there was considerable
+danger that his ankle, which had been severely sprained, would not be in
+a condition for travelling for a considerable time yet. The rough
+mountain-paths would have tried it, and perhaps a second sprain would
+have resulted.
+
+Now, however, he would be able to ride on one of the horses, and need
+not walk at all if he pleased.
+
+This idea occurred to Jake Bradley, who suggested it to Richard Dewey.
+
+Dewey's face brightened up, for he was secretly chafing over the delay
+made necessary by his accident. "But, my friend," he said, "it would be
+selfish in me to take your horse and leave you to go on foot."
+
+"Look here, Dick Dewey," said Bradley: "what do you take me for? Do you
+think I'm so delicate I can't walk? I wasn't brought up in no such way.
+I can do my regular share of trampin', whether on the prairie or on the
+mountain. I ain't no tender-foot."
+
+"I don't doubt your strength and endurance, friend Bradley," said Dewey,
+"but a man doesn't always like to do what he is fully able to do."
+
+"Then we needn't say no more about it. There's a gal--I beg your pardon,
+a young lady--in 'Frisco that's pinin' to see you, Dick Dewey, and that
+hoss'll get you there sooner'n if you waited till you could walk."
+
+"I am too selfish to resist your arguments, my good friend," said Dewey.
+"I think I can venture to start within a week, as I am to ride."
+
+"No doubt of it."
+
+"You'd better let me buy your horse, and then if we don't meet again,
+or anything happens to it, you won't be the loser."
+
+"'If we don't meet again'?" repeated Bradley, puzzled. "You don't mean
+to say you are goin' to set out alone?"
+
+"I don't want to take you and Ben away from your claim. It isn't half
+exhausted yet."
+
+"Then let somebody else exhaust it," returned Bradley. "You don't
+suppose, Dick, we are goin' to let you go off alone?"
+
+"I shall not be alone. My faithful attendant, Ki Sing, will be with me."
+
+"And what good would Ki Sing be in case you fell in with a grizzly? I
+want to know that," asked Bradley. "I don't say anything against the
+heathen; he's squarer than many a white man I've met with, and he's
+worth a dozen such men as Bill Mosely and Tom Hadley; but, all the same,
+he wouldn't be much in a scrimmage. Them Chinamen are half women,
+accordin' to my reckonin'. They look like it and speak like it. No, Ben
+and I go when you do, and the first man that comes along is welcome to
+the claim."
+
+"I shall certainly be delighted to have you both with me," said Richard
+Dewey. "You're a good fellow, Jake Bradley, and I trust you more than
+any man I have met since I came to California. Ben acted as escort to
+Florence, and I owe him a debt for that which I hope some day to repay."
+
+"Then it's all fixed," said Bradley, in a tone of satisfaction. "We four
+are to keep together till we see you within reach of 'Frisco. When you
+and your young lady meet you won't need us any more."
+
+Richard Dewey smiled. "Florence will wish to thank you for your kind
+care of me, Bradley," he said.
+
+"I've no objection to that. You can invite me to the weddin', Dick."
+
+"I give you that invitation now, and hope you may not have long to wait
+for the occasion. All difficulties are not yet removed, but I hope they
+may vanish speedily. I get impatient sometimes, but I try to curb my
+impatient feeling."
+
+"I reckon I would feel so myself if I was in your fix," observed
+Bradley.
+
+"I hope you may be, Jake."
+
+Bradley shook his head.
+
+"I'm a cross-grained old bachelor," he said, "and I reckon no gal would
+look at me twice."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+THE PROFITS OF MINING.
+
+
+A few evenings later Ben and Bradley were sitting just outside the cabin
+as the twilight deepened.
+
+"It doesn't seem as if this was our last night in the old shanty," said
+Jake Bradley, taking the pipe from his mouth. "It ain't a palace, but I
+shall kinder hate to leave it."
+
+"I've got to feel very much at home here myself, Jake; still, I should
+like to get somewhere where it isn't quite so far out of the world."
+
+"There's something in that, Ben."
+
+"I haven't heard anything from home for a good many weeks; I wish I knew
+whether my uncle's family are all well."
+
+"How many is there in the family, Ben?"
+
+"There's Uncle Job and Aunt Hannah and Cousin Jennie."
+
+"That's just what I thought," said Jake.
+
+"I don't understand you," said Ben, puzzled. "What did you think?"
+
+"I thought there was a Cousin Jennie."
+
+Our hero laughed, and, it may be, blushed a little. "What made you think
+that?"
+
+"There generally is, I notice," said Mr. Bradley, eagerly. "Is Cousin
+Jennie pretty?"
+
+"To be sure she is."
+
+"I thought that too, Ben."
+
+"What are you driving at, Jake?"
+
+"I was sure there was some one besides the old folks that you was
+anxious about."
+
+"Well, you happen to be right," said Ben, laughing. "But I must tell you
+that Jennie is only fourteen, and I am only sixteen."
+
+"You'll both of you be older some day, Ben. But there's a matter that we
+must settle before we go."
+
+"What's that?"
+
+"About the gold we have found since we've been here. We must have some
+arrangement about dividin' it."
+
+"We sha'n't quarrel about that, Jake."
+
+"No, there's no danger of that. That'll be easy enough. We'll divide it
+into two piles, one for you, and the other for me."
+
+"Jake, I have no right to half of it. You ought to have two-thirds."
+
+"I'd like to argy that matter, Ben. Why should I have two-thirds?"
+
+"Because you earned it. You understood mining better than I."
+
+"We're equal partners, Ben. I stick to that, and I mean to have my way.
+I've been making a little calculation, and I reckon there's nigh on to a
+thousand dollars for the two of us."
+
+"As much as that, Jake?" said Ben, eagerly.
+
+"I reckon there is, though I can't justly tell."
+
+"It doesn't seem possible I can be worth five hundred dollars," said
+Ben, thoughtfully. "We've only been here four weeks. That makes a
+hundred and twenty-five dollars a week."
+
+"So it does. That's pretty high pay for a boy."
+
+"Before I left home," said Ben, "there was an old farmer, Deacon
+Pitkins, who wanted to hire me for a year. What do you think he offered
+me?"
+
+"How much?"
+
+"Twenty dollars a year and board," answered Ben.
+
+"I reckon you did better to come to Californy."
+
+"It looks so now. How the old deacon would stare if he knew how I had
+been prospering at the mines! I wish there was any way of sending part
+of this money home. I would like to make a present to Uncle Job."
+
+"When you get to 'Frisco you won't have any trouble about sendin' it."
+
+"Uncle Job thought it was very risky for a boy like me to leave home and
+seek my fortune in California. I would like to prove to him that I
+didn't make a mistake."
+
+"It's likely you haven't, Ben," said Bradley cautiously, "but you ain't
+out of the woods yet. I hope things will go on as well as they have, and
+you'll be able to carry a pile home. But we've got to start in good
+season to-morrow, and we may as well turn in and go to sleep."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+KI SING'S RIDE.
+
+
+The next morning after breakfast the party got off. Fortunately, there
+were no trunks or heavy luggage to carry. California pioneers had no
+occasion for Saratoga trunks, and the amount of clothing they carried in
+addition to what they had on was very small.
+
+"Ki Sing," said Bradley, jocosely, "I am afraid we can't carry your
+trunk with us."
+
+"'Tlunk'!" repeated the Chinaman, looking puzzled.
+
+"Yes, trunk, or 'tlunk,' as you call it. Haven't you a trunk to carry
+your clothes?"
+
+"Got clothes on," said Ki Sing, pointing to his blouse and wide pants.
+
+"I see," said Bradley, laughing. "We're all about in the same fix. The
+clothes of the whole party wouldn't half fill a trunk."
+
+The two horses were brought out and saddled.
+
+Bradley assisted Richard Dewey to mount one, and motioned to Ben to
+mount the other. "Get on, Ben," he said. "It's time the procession was
+moving."
+
+Ben shook his head. "No, Jake," he said. "You are older than I am. It is
+proper that you should ride."
+
+"If I'm older than you," said Bradley, "I am stronger than you, and am
+better able to walk."
+
+"I am strong enough, Jake. I sha'n't get tired."
+
+"One of us ought to ride. There's no use in havin' a horse if you ain't
+going to use him."
+
+"Suppose," suggested Ben, laughing, "we let Ki Sing ride?"
+
+Bradley saw that a joke was intended, and he turned gravely to the
+Chinaman. "Ki Sing," he said, "come here and mount this mustang. We are
+goin' to let you ride."
+
+An expression of alarm overspread the Chinaman's broad face. He had
+never been on a horse's back in his life, but he knew something of the
+Californian mustangs. More than once he had seen them buck and throw
+the ill-fated riders over their heads, and, not being of a daring or
+venturesome nature, he preferred to walk rather than trust himself to
+mount the back of so treacherous an animal.
+
+"Ki Sing no wantee lide," he said, starting back in alarm.
+
+"But, Ki Sing, you will get tired tramping over these hills. It will be
+much easier to ride on a mustang."
+
+"No likee mustang--mustang buckee," objected the Chinaman.
+
+"You are right, Ki Sing. They do buck sometimes, but this animal is as
+mild and peaceful as a lamb. However, we won't insist on your riding
+now. Some other day, when you have found out how safe he is, you shall
+try him."
+
+The Chinaman seemed much relieved at the privilege accorded him of
+walking, and with his small bundle prepared to take his place in the
+procession.
+
+"Ben," said Bradley, "the best way for us to arrange will be to take
+turns in riding. I'd a good deal rather walk half the way. My legs get
+cramped when I am on horseback too long. You remember I used to get off
+and lead the horse when we had one apiece. You may take your turn first,
+and as you are riding I will give you a bag to carry. Mind you don't
+lose it, for it contains our store of gold-dust."
+
+"All right, Jake. I'll ride first, if you say so." In truth, Ben was
+pleased to find himself once more on the back of a horse. He had not had
+much practice in riding at the East, but the practice he had had in
+California had already made him a good rider, and even if the mustang
+had taken a fancy to buck he would have found it rather hard to dislodge
+our young hero. The animal he bestrode, however, was very well-behaved,
+especially when he felt that his rider had the mastery over him. Any
+horse, with any spirit, is apt to take advantage of a timid or
+unpractised rider, and the animal is very quick to learn when this is
+the case.
+
+During the first day the mustang behaved remarkably well. To begin with,
+both Ben and Bradley were good riders. Moreover, the path was very
+uneven, chiefly up and down hill, and the horse was too sensible to go
+much beyond a walk.
+
+As for Dewey, he got on very comfortably. His ankle was nearly as strong
+as at first, but if he had been compelled to use it for a day's tramp it
+would undoubtedly have ached and become sensitive. On the back of his
+horse--or rather Bradley's--there was of course no danger of injury.
+When he became tired of his constrained position he got off and walked a
+quarter or half a mile, and experienced the needed relief.
+
+At the end of the first day they had got well down the mountain, and the
+commencement of the second day's ride was over a nearly level plateau.
+
+"This is a good place for Ki Sing to ride," suggested Ben.
+
+"Just so," said Bradley, taking the hint.--"Ki Sing, you must take your
+turn now."
+
+"No wantee lide," said the Chinaman, but he did not greet the proposal
+with so much alarm as on the morning previous. He had noticed the quiet
+behavior and regular pace of the two mustangs, and concluded that they
+were of a different kind from those he had seen misbehave on former
+occasions.
+
+"Oh, you'll like it well enough when you try it, Ki Sing," said Bradley.
+"Were you ever on a horse's back?"
+
+"Me never lide," answered the Chinaman.
+
+"Then it is high time you began. You see, Ki Sing, it isn't exactly fair
+that Ben and I should ride half the time and leave you to walk all the
+way."
+
+"Likee walk," said Ki Sing.
+
+"That's because you never tried riding. You see, these two hosses of
+ours are jest like lambs. They're so gentle they could be rid by a
+two-year-old baby."
+
+The Chinaman looked at the mustangs, and confidence came to him. So far
+as he had observed, what Jake Bradley said was strictly true. They
+certainly did seem remarkably tame.
+
+With a little more persuasion he was induced to mount, Ben assisting him
+to get into position, and the reins were put into his hands.
+
+The mustang began to move off at a regular pace, very favorable to an
+inexperienced rider, and a bland and child-like smile of content
+overspread the face of the Chinaman.
+
+"You see, Ki Sing," said Bradley, who walked alongside, "it's nothing to
+ride. You thought you couldn't ride, yet you are pacing it off like a
+veteran."
+
+"Me likee lide," observed Ki Sing, with a pleased smile.
+
+"Just so: I thought you would.--Ben, doesn't Ki Sing ride well?"
+
+"Splendidly!" said Ben, contemplating with amusement the Mongolian
+horseman.
+
+Certainly, Ki Sing in his Chinese garb, as he gingerly held the reins,
+with his bland, smiling face, did look rather queer.
+
+But I am sorry to say that the poor Chinaman's pleasure and contentment
+were destined to be of short duration. Bradley and Ben were eager for
+the amusement they promised themselves when they planned this practical
+joke at the expense of their Asiatic friend.
+
+Winking at Ben, Bradley said, "You don't go fast enough, Ki Sing."
+
+As he spoke he brought down a stick which he had in his hand with
+emphasis on the flanks of the mustang. The effect was magical. The tame
+animal immediately started off at great speed, arching his neck and
+shaking his head, while the poor Chinaman, his bland smile succeeded by
+a look of extreme terror, was bounced up and down in the most
+unceremonious fashion, and would have been thrown off quickly but for
+the Mexican saddle, which is a securer seat than that used at the East.
+
+He uttered a howl of anguish, while his almond eyes seemed starting out
+of their sockets as his steed dashed along the road.
+
+Though Ben sympathized with the terrified Chinaman, he knew there was
+little or no danger, and he threw himself on the ground and gave way to
+a paroxysm of laughter.
+
+Finally the horse slackened his pace, and Ki Sing lost no time in
+sliding to the ground.
+
+"How do you like it, Ki Sing?" asked Bradley, trying to keep his face
+straight.
+
+"No likee lide," answered Mr. Chinaman. "Horsee 'most kill Ki Sing."
+
+"You rode splendidly, Ki Sing," said Ben, laughing. "You made him go
+fast."
+
+"No likee go fast," said Ki Sing, inspecting his limbs to see that none
+were broken.
+
+The poor Chinaman's limbs were sore for a day or two, and he could never
+be induced to mount one of the mustangs again.
+
+It was his first and last ride.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+GOLDEN GULCH HOTEL.
+
+
+The party were able to cover a greater distance on the second day than
+on the first, being now among the foot-hills, where travelling was
+attended with less difficulty.
+
+In the mountain-cabin they had been solitary. Their only visitors had
+been Bill Mosely and his friend Tom Hadley, and such visitors they were
+glad to dispense with. Now, however, it was different. Here and there
+they found a little mining-settlement with its quota of rough, bearded
+men clad in strange fashion. Yet some of these men had filled
+responsible and prominent positions in the East. One of the most
+brigandish-looking miners had been a clergyman in Western New York, who
+had been compelled by bronchial troubles to give up his parish, and,
+being poor, had wandered to the California mines in the hope of
+gathering a competence for the support of his family.
+
+"It seems good to see people again," said Ben, whose temperament was
+social. "I felt like Robinson Crusoe on his desert island when I was up
+on the mountain."
+
+"Yes," answered Bradley, "I like to see people myself when they're of
+the right sort. When they're like Bill Mosely I'd rather be alone."
+
+"I agree with you there," said Ben. "Poor company is worse than none."
+
+Besides the mining-settlements there were little knots of miners at work
+here and there, who generally gave the travellers a cordial welcome, and
+often invited them to stay and join them.
+
+"No," said Bradley, "we're in a hurry to get to 'Frisco."
+
+"Oh, you've made your pile, then?" was generally answered. "What luck
+have you had?"
+
+"Our pile is a small one," Bradley was wont to reply, "but we've got
+business in 'Frisco. Leastwise, he has," pointing to Richard Dewey, who
+headed the procession.
+
+"Will you come back to the mines?"
+
+"I shall, for one," said Bradley. "I ain't rich enough to retire yet,
+and I don't expect to be for half a dozen years yet."
+
+"Will the boy come back?"
+
+"Yes," answered Ben. "I'm in the same situation as my friend, Mr.
+Bradley. I haven't my fortune yet."
+
+"You'd better stay with us, boy. We'll do the right thing by you."
+
+Ben shook his head and declined with thanks. He did not want to forsake
+his present companions. Besides, he had been commissioned by Florence
+Douglas to find Richard Dewey, and he wanted to execute that commission
+thoroughly. He wanted to see the two united, and then he would be
+content to return to the rough life of the mining-camp.
+
+It is easy to understand why Ben should have received so many friendly
+invitations. A boy was a rarity in California at that time--at any rate,
+in the mining-districts. There were plenty of young men and men of
+middle age, but among the adventurous immigrants were to be found few
+boys of sixteen, the age of our hero. The sight of his fresh young face
+and boyish figure recalled to many miners the sons whom they had left
+behind them, and helped to make more vivid the picture of home which
+their imaginations often conjured up, and they would have liked to have
+Ben join their company. But, as I have said, Ben had his reasons for
+declining all invitations at present, though he had every reason to
+anticipate good treatment.
+
+Toward the close of the second day the little party reached a small
+mining-settlement containing probably about fifty miners.
+
+It was known as Golden Gulch, and it even boasted a small hotel, with a
+board sign, on which had been scrawled in charcoal--
+
+GOLDEN GULCH HOTEL.
+
+KEPT BY JIM BROWN.
+
+"I believe we are getting into the domain of civilization," said Richard
+Dewey. "Actually, here is a hotel. If Mr. Brown is not too exorbitant
+in his prices, we had better put up here for the night."
+
+"It doesn't look like an expensive hotel," said Ben, looking at the
+rough shanty which the proprietor had dignified by the appellation of
+"hotel."
+
+It was roughly put together, had but one story, was unpainted, and was
+altogether hardly equal, architecturally, to some of the huts which are
+to be found among the rocks at the upper end of Manhattan Island.
+
+Such was Jim Brown's "Golden Gulch Hotel." Such as it was, however, it
+looked attractive to our pilgrims, who for so long had been compelled to
+be their own cooks and servants.
+
+They found, upon inquiry, that Jim Brown's terms for supper, lodging,
+and breakfast were five dollars a day, or as nearly as that sum could be
+reached in gold-dust. It was considerably higher than the prices then
+asked at the best hotels in New York and Philadelphia; but high prices
+prevailed in California, and no one scrupled to pay them.
+
+The party decided to remain, and the landlord set to work to prepare
+them a supper as good as the limited resources of the Golden Gulch Hotel
+would allow. Still, the fare was better and more varied than our
+travellers had been accustomed to for a long time, and they enjoyed it.
+
+Ki Sing sat down to the table with them. This was opposed at first by
+Jim Brown, the landlord, who regarded Chinamen as scarcely above the
+level of his mules.
+
+"You don't mean to say you want that heathen to sit down at the table
+with you?" he remonstrated.
+
+"Yes, I do," said Richard Dewey.
+
+"I'd sooner be kicked by a mule than let any yaller heathen sit next to
+me," remarked Jim Brown, whose education and refinement made him
+sensitive to such social contamination.
+
+Richard Dewey smiled. "Of course you can choose for yourself," he said.
+"Ki Sing is a friend of mine, though he is acting as my servant, and I
+want him to have equal privileges."
+
+Jim Brown remarked that of course Dewey could choose his own company,
+though he intimated that he thought his taste might be improved.
+
+"Me eatee aftelward," said Ki Sing when he perceived that his presence
+at the table was the subject of controversy, but he was overruled by
+Richard Dewey, who possessed a large share of independence, and would
+not allow himself to be controlled or influenced by the prejudices of
+others.
+
+This may not seem a very important matter, but it aroused a certain
+hostility on the part of the landlord, which arrayed him against Dewey
+and his companions at a critical time.
+
+Entirely unconscious of the storm that was soon to gather about them,
+the little party did good justice to the supper which Mr. Brown set
+before them.
+
+"How would it seem, Jake, to have supper like this every night?"
+remarked Ben.
+
+"It would make me feel like a prince," answered Jake Bradley.
+
+"It is no better than I used to get at Uncle Job's, and yet he was a
+poor man. How he would stare if he knew I was paying five dollars a day
+for no better fare than he gave me!" replied our hero.
+
+"That's true, Ben; but maybe it's easier to get the five dollars here
+than it would have been to scrape together fifty cents at home."
+
+"You're right there, Jake. Fifty cents was a pretty big sum to me a year
+ago. I don't believe Uncle Job himself averages over a dollar and a
+quarter a day, and he has a family to support. If I only do well here,
+I'll make him comfortable in his old age."
+
+"I guess you'll have the chance, Ben. You're the boy to succeed. You're
+smart, and you're willin' to work, and them's what leads to success out
+here."
+
+"Thank you, Jake. I will try to deserve your favorable opinion."
+
+As Ben finished these words, there was a confused noise outside, the
+hoarse murmur as of angry men, and a minute later Jim Brown the landlord
+entered the room, his face dark and threatening.
+
+"Strangers," said he, "I reckoned there was something wrong about you
+when you let that yaller heathen sit down with you. Now, I know it. You
+ain't square, respectable men; you're hoss-thieves!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+BILL MOSELY REAPPEARS.
+
+
+It will be necessary to go back a little in order to explain how so
+extraordinary a charge came to be made against the party in which we are
+interested.
+
+Bill Mosely and Tom Hadley did not become reconciled to the loss of
+their stolen horses. They found it much less agreeable to use their own
+legs than the legs of the two mustangs which had borne them so
+comfortably over the hills. They cursed the fate which had led to their
+meeting with Ki Sing, and the poor Chinaman would have fared worse at
+their hands had they anticipated the trouble which he indirectly brought
+them.
+
+Bill Mosely was naturally lazy; any sort of work he considered beneath
+him, and he desired to avoid all possible trouble in the lawless and
+vagabond life which he had chosen. He took it worse, indeed, than his
+companion, who was neither so shiftless nor so lazy as he.
+
+During the few days which had elapsed since they were glad to leave the
+mountain-cabin they had averaged less than ten miles' daily travel. They
+had money enough to purchase animals to replace those which had been
+taken from them, but had not found any one who was willing to sell for a
+reasonable price, and Mosely, though he came easily by his money, was
+far from lavish in the spending of it.
+
+It chanced that an hour after the arrival of Richard Dewey and his party
+at the Golden Gulch Hotel, Mosely and his companion, dusty and tired,
+approached the small mining-settlement, of which the hotel was the
+principal building.
+
+They had had nothing to eat since morning, and both of them felt hungry,
+not to say ravenous.
+
+"Thank Heaven, Tom, there's a mining-town!" ejaculated Mosely, with an
+expression of devotion not usual to him. "Now we can get something to
+eat, and I, for my part, feel as empty as a drum. It's hard travelling
+on an empty stomach."
+
+"I should say so," remarked Mr. Hadley, with his usual formula. It must
+be admitted, however, that in the present instance he was entirely
+sincere, and fully meant what he said.
+
+"There's a hotel," said Tom Hadley, a minute later, venturing on an
+original observation.
+
+"So there is; what is the name?" inquired Mosely, who was not as
+far-sighted as his companion.
+
+"The Golden Gulch Hotel," answered Hadley, shading his eyes and reading
+from a distance of fifty rods the pretentious sign of the little inn.
+
+"I suppose they'll charge a fortune for a supper," said Mosely, whose
+economical spirit was troubled by the exorbitant prices then prevalent
+in California, "but we must have it at any cost."
+
+"I should say so," assented Tom Hadley, cordially.
+
+"You always have a good appetite of your own," observed Mosely, not
+without sarcasm, which, however, Tom Hadley was too obtuse to
+comprehend.
+
+"I should say so," returned Tom complacently, as if he had received a
+compliment.
+
+"No doubt you'll get your money's worth, no matter how much we pay for
+supper."
+
+Tom Hadley himself was of this opinion, and so expressed himself.
+
+They had already caught sight of two mustangs which were browsing near
+the Golden Gulch Hotel, and the sight of these useful animals excited
+the envy and longing of Bill Mosely.
+
+"Do you see them mustangs, Tom?" he inquired.
+
+"I should say so."
+
+"I wish we had them."
+
+"Couldn't we take them?" suggested Hadley, his face brightening at the
+thought of this easy mode of acquiring what they so much needed.
+
+"Are you mad, Tom Hadley?" returned Bill Mosely, shrugging his
+shoulders. "Are you anxious to die?"
+
+"I should say--not."
+
+"Then you'd better not think of carrying off them horses. Why, we'd have
+the whole pack of miners after us, and we'd die in our boots before
+twenty-four hours had passed."
+
+On the whole, this prospect did not appear to be of an encouraging
+character, and Tom Hadley quietly dropped the plan.
+
+"Perhaps we can buy them," suggested Mosely by way of amendment. "I've
+got tired of tramping over these hills on foot. After we've got some
+supper we'll inquire who they belong to."
+
+Up to this point neither Mosely nor his companion suspected that the
+mustangs which they desired to purchase had once been in their
+possession. That discovery was to come later.
+
+Before reaching the Golden Gulch Hotel they encountered the landlord,
+already introduced as Jim Brown.
+
+Mr. Brown scanned the new-comers with an eye to business. Being
+strangers, he naturally looked upon them as possible customers, and was
+disposed from motives of policy to cultivate their acquaintance.
+
+"Evenin', strangers," he remarked, as affably as a rather gruff voice
+and manner would permit.
+
+"Good-evening," said Bill Mosely, socially. "What might be the name of
+this settlement?"
+
+"You kin see the name on that sign yonder, stranger, ef your eyes are
+strong enough."
+
+"Golden Gulch?"
+
+"I reckon."
+
+"It ought to be a good place, from the name."
+
+"It's middlin' good. Where might you be from?"
+
+"We're prospectin' a little," answered Bill Mosely vaguely; for there
+had been circumstances in his California career that made it impolitic
+to be too definite in his statements.
+
+"Where are you bound?" continued the landlord, with that licensed
+curiosity which no one ventured to object to in California.
+
+"That depends upon circumstances, my friend," said Bill Mosely,
+guardedly. "We may go to 'Frisco, and then again we may not. To-night we
+propose to remain here in Golden Gulch. Is that a comfortable hotel?"
+
+"Well, stranger, seein' I keep it myself, it mightn't be exactly the
+thing for me to say much about it; but I reckon you won't complain of it
+if you stop there."
+
+"I'm glad to meet you," said Bill Mosely, grasping the landlord's hand
+fervently. "I don't need to ask any more about it, seein' you're the
+landlord. You look like a man that can keep a hotel--eh, Tom?"
+
+"I should say so," returned Tom Hadley, making the answer that was
+expected of him.
+
+"You're a gentleman!" said Jim Brown, on whom this flattery had its
+effect. "Just come along with me and I'll see that you are treated as
+such."
+
+"What are your terms, say, for supper and lodgin', landlord?" asked
+Bill, with commendable caution.
+
+"Five dollars," answered Brown.
+
+Bill Mosely's jaw fell. He had hoped it would be less.
+
+"And for supper alone?" he asked.
+
+"Two dollars."
+
+"We'll only take supper," said Mosely.
+
+"Just as you say."
+
+"We're so used to campin' out that we couldn't breathe in-doors--eh,
+Tom?"
+
+"I should say so, Bill."
+
+"Suit yourselves, strangers. I reckon you'll want breakfast in the
+mornin'."
+
+"As likely as not." Then, turning his attention to the mustangs: "Are
+them mustangs yours, landlord?"
+
+"No; they belong to a party that's stoppin' with me."
+
+"Will they sell?"
+
+"I reckon not. There's a lame man in the party, and he can't walk much."
+
+"A lame man? Who is with him?" asked Bill Mosely, with a sudden
+suspicion of the truth.
+
+"Well, there's another man and a boy and a heathen Chinee."
+
+"Tom," said Bill Mosely, in excitement, "it's the party we left on the
+mountain."
+
+"I should say so, Bill."
+
+"Do you know them, strangers?"
+
+"Know them?" ejaculated Bill Mosely, who instantly formed a plan which
+would gratify his love of vengeance and secure him the coveted horses at
+one and the same time--"I reckon I know them only too well. They stole
+those mustangs from me and my friend a week ago. I thought them animals
+looked natural."
+
+"Hoss-thieves!" said the landlord. "Well, I surmised there was something
+wrong about them when they let that yaller heathen set down to the table
+with them."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+A TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE.
+
+
+It was speedily noised about in the mining-camp that a party of
+horse-thieves had had the audacity to visit the settlement, and were
+even now guests of the Golden Gulch Hotel.
+
+Now, in the eyes of a miner a horse-thief was as bad as a murderer. He
+was considered rather worse than an ordinary thief, since the character
+of his theft gave him better facilities for getting away with his
+plunder. He was looked upon by all as a common and dangerous enemy, on
+whom any community was justified in visiting the most condign
+punishment.
+
+Bill Mosely knew very well the feeling he would rouse against the men
+whom he hated, and, having started the movement, waited complacently for
+the expected results to follow.
+
+Jim Brown was by no means slow in spreading the alarm. True, these men
+were his guests, and it might be considered that it was against his
+interests to denounce them, but he knew his claim for entertainment
+would be allowed him out of the funds found in possession of the party,
+with probably a liberal addition as a compensation for revealing their
+real character.
+
+Horse-thieves! No sooner did the news spread than the miners, most of
+whom were through work for the day, began to make their way to the
+neighborhood of the hotel.
+
+There hadn't been any excitement at Golden Gulch for some time, and this
+promised a first-class sensation.
+
+"Hang 'em up! That's what I say," suggested Brown the landlord.
+
+"Where's the men that call 'em thieves?" asked one of the miners, a
+middle-aged man, who was sober and slow-spoken, and did not look like a
+man to be easily carried away by a storm of prejudice or a wave of
+excitement.
+
+"Here they be," said Brown, pointing to Bill Mosely and Tom Hadley, who
+were speedily surrounded by an excited crowd.
+
+"What have you say?" asked the first speaker of Mosely.
+
+Bill Mosely repeated his story glibly. It was to this effect: They had
+met the Chinaman, who induced them to accompany him to the cabin where
+his master lay sick. From motives of compassion they assented. When they
+reached the cabin they were set upon by the combined party, their horses
+were taken from them, they were tied to trees, where they were kept in
+great pain all night, and in the morning stripped of the greater part of
+their money and sent adrift.
+
+It will be seen that the story did not entirely deviate from fact, and
+was very artfully framed to excite sympathy for the narrator and
+indignation against the perpetrators of the supposed outrage. Tom
+Hadley, who had not the prolific imagination of his comrade, listened in
+open-mouthed wonder to the fanciful tale, but did not offer to
+corroborate it in his usual manner.
+
+The tale was so glibly told that it carried conviction to the minds of
+most of those present, and a storm of indignation arose.
+
+"Let's have 'em out! let's hang 'em up!" exclaimed one impetuous miner.
+
+Others echoed the cry, and the company of miners in stern phalanx
+marched to the hotel, where, unconscious of the impending peril, our
+friends were resting after the day's fatigue.
+
+We have already described the manner in which Jim Brown burst in upon
+them with the startling charge that they were horse-thieves.
+
+Of course all were startled except Ki Sing, who did not fully comprehend
+the situation.
+
+Richard Dewey was the first to speak. "What do you mean," he said,
+sternly, "by this preposterous charge?"
+
+"You'll find out soon enough," said the landlord, nodding significantly.
+"Jest you file out of that door pretty quick. There's some of us want to
+see you."
+
+"What does all this mean?" asked Dewey, turning to Jake Bradley.
+
+"I don't know," answered Bradley. "It looks like a conspiracy."
+
+The party filed out, and were confronted by some thirty or forty
+black-bearded, stern-faced men, who had tried and condemned them in
+advance of their appearance.
+
+Richard Dewey glanced at the faces before him, and his spirit sank
+within him. He had been present at a similar scene before--a scene which
+had terminated in a tragedy--and he knew how swift and relentless those
+men could be. Who could have made such a charge he did not yet know,
+but, innocent as he and his companions were, he knew that their word
+would not be taken, and the mistake might lead to death. But he was not
+a man to quail or blanch.
+
+"Hoss-thieves! string 'em up!" was shouted from more than one throat.
+
+Richard Dewey calmly surveyed the angry throng. "Gentlemen," he said, "I
+am no more a horse-thief than any one of you."
+
+There was a buzz of indignation, as if he had confessed his guilt and
+implicated them in it.
+
+"I demand to see and face my accusers," he said boldly. "What man has
+dared to charge me and my friends with the mean and contemptible crime
+of stealing horses?"
+
+Jake Bradley had been looking about him too. Over the heads of the men,
+who stood before them drawn up in a semicircle, he saw what had escaped
+the notice of Richard Dewey, the faces and figures of Bill Mosely and
+Tom Hadley.
+
+"Dick," said he, suddenly, "I see it all. Look yonder! There are them
+two mean skunks, Bill Mosely and Tom Hadley. It's they who have been
+bringin' this false slander ag'in us."
+
+Richard Dewey and Ben immediately looked in the direction indicated.
+
+Bill Mosely eyed them with a glance of evil and exulting triumph, as
+much as to say, "It's my turn now; I am having my revenge."
+
+But Jim Brown, who seemed to be acting as prosecuting attorney, had
+already summoned the two men to come forward and testify.
+
+"Here's the men!" he said, exultingly. "Here's the men you robbed of
+their horses and tied to trees.--Isn't it so, stranger?"
+
+Bill Mosely inclined his head in the affirmative, and Tom Hadley, being
+also asked, answered, but rather faintly, "I should say so."
+
+Lying did not come as natural to him as to Bill.
+
+Richard Dewey laughed scornfully.
+
+"Are those the men," he asked, "who charge us with stealing their
+horses?"
+
+"In course they do."
+
+"Then," burst forth Jake Bradley, impetuously, "of all the impudent and
+lyin' scoundrels I ever met, they'll carry off the prize."
+
+"Of course you deny it," said Bill Mosely, brazenly persisting in his
+falsehood. "A man that'll steal will lie. Perhaps you will charge us
+with stealin' the horses next."
+
+"That's just what I do," said Bradley, in an excited tone. "You're not
+only horse-thieves, but you'll take gold-dust an' anything else you can
+lay your hands on."
+
+"Gentlemen," said Bill Mosely, shrugging his shoulders, "you see how he
+is tryin' to fasten his own guilt on me and my innocent pard here. It
+isn't enough that he stole our horses and forced us to foot it over
+them rough hills, but now he wants to steal away our reputation for
+honor and honesty. He thinks you're easy to be imposed on, but I know
+better. You won't see two innocent men lied about and charged with
+disgraceful crimes?"
+
+"I admire that fellow's cheek," said Bradley in an undertone to Richard
+Dewey, but he soon found that the consequences were likely to be
+disastrous to him and his party. The crowd were getting impatient, and
+readily seconded the words of Jim Brown when he followed up Bill
+Mosely's speech by a suggestion that they proceed at once to vindicate
+justice by a summary execution.
+
+They rushed forward and seized upon our four friends, Ki Sing included,
+and hurried them off to a cluster of tall trees some twenty rods away.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+LYNCH LAW.
+
+
+Nothing is so unreasoning as a crowd under excitement. The miners were
+inflamed with fierce anger against men of whom they knew nothing, except
+that they were accused of theft by two other men, of whom also they knew
+nothing. Whether the charge was true or false they did not stop to
+inquire. Apparently, they did not care. They only wanted revenge, and
+that stern and immediate.
+
+The moderate speaker, already referred to, tried to turn the tide by an
+appeal for delay. "Wait till morning," he said. "This charge may not be
+true. Let us not commit an injustice."
+
+But his appeal was drowned in the cries of the excited crowd, "Hang the
+horse-thieves! string 'em up."
+
+Each of the four victims was dragged by a force which he couldn't
+resist to the place of execution.
+
+Richard Dewey was pale, but his expression was stern and contemptuous,
+as if he regarded the party of miners as fools or lunatics.
+
+"Was this to be the end?" he asked himself. "Just as the prospect of
+happiness was opening before him, just as he was to be reunited to the
+object of his affection, was he to fall a victim to the fury of a mob?"
+
+Jake Bradley perhaps took the matter more philosophically than either of
+the other three. He had less to live for, and his attachment to life was
+not therefore so strong. Still, to be hanged as a thief was not a
+pleasant way to leave life, and that was what he thought of most. Again,
+his sympathy was excited in behalf of the boy Ben, whom he had come to
+love as if he were his own son. He could not bear to think of the boy's
+young life being extinguished in so shocking a manner.
+
+"This is rough, Ben," he managed to say as the two, side by side, were
+hurried along by the vindictive crowd.
+
+Ben's face was pale and his heart was full of sorrow and awe with the
+prospect of a shameful death rising before him. Life was sweet to him,
+and it seemed hard to lose it.
+
+"Yes it is," answered Ben, faltering. "Can't something be done?"
+
+Jake Bradley shook his head mournfully. "I am afraid not," he said. "I'd
+like to shoot one of those lyin' scoundrels" (referring to Bill Mosely
+and his companion) "before I am swung off. To think their word should
+cost us our lives! It's a burnin' shame!"
+
+Ki Sing looked the image of terror as he too was forced forward by a
+couple of strong miners. His feet refused to do their office, and he was
+literally dragged forward, his feet trailing along the ground. He was
+indeed a ludicrous figure, if anything connected with such a tragedy can
+be considered ludicrous. Probably it was not so much death that Ki Sing
+feared, for with his race life is held cheap, but Chinamen shrink from
+violence, particularly that of a brutal character. They are ready with
+their knives, but other violence is not common among them.
+
+Bill Mosely and Tom Hadley followed in the rear of the crowd. They would
+have liked to improve the time by stealing away with the mustangs which
+they coveted, but even in this hour of public excitement they knew it
+would not be safe, and the act might arouse suspicion.
+
+While Mosely felt gratified that the men he hated were likely to be put
+out of the way, there was in his heart a sensation of fear, and he
+involuntarily shuddered when he reflected that if justice were done he
+would he in the place of these men who were about to suffer a shameful
+death. Moreover, he knew that some day it were far from improbable that
+he himself would be figuring in a similar scene as a chief actor, or
+rather chief victim. So, though he exulted, he also trembled.
+
+Meanwhile the place of execution had been reached. Then it was
+discovered that one important accessory to the contemplated tragedy was
+lacking--a rope. So one of the party was sent to the hotel for a rope,
+being instructed by Jim Brown where to find it.
+
+It seemed the last chance for an appeal, and, hopeless as it seemed,
+Richard Dewey resolved to improve it. "Gentlemen," he said in a solemn
+tone, "I call God to witness that you are about to put to death four
+innocent men."
+
+"Enough of that!" said Jim Brown, roughly, "We don't want to hear any
+more of your talk."
+
+But Dewey did not stop. "You have condemned us," he proceeded, "on the
+testimony of two as arrant scoundrels as can be found in California;"
+and he pointed scornfully at Bill Mosely and his partner.
+
+"Are you goin' to let him insult us?" asked Mosely in the tone of a
+wronged man.
+
+"That don't go down, stranger," said Jim Brown. "We know you're guilty,
+and that's enough."
+
+"You know it? How do you know it?" retorted Dewey. "What proof is there
+except the word of two thieves and liars who deserve the fate which you
+are preparing for us?"
+
+"Hang 'em up!" shouted somebody; and the cry was taken up by the rest.
+
+"If you won't believe me," continued Dewey, "I want to make one
+appeal--to ask one last favor. Spare the life of that innocent boy, who
+certainly has done no evil. If there are any fathers present I ask, Have
+you the heart to take away the life of a child just entering upon life
+and its enjoyments?"
+
+He had touched the chord in the hearts of more than one.
+
+"That's so!" cried the speaker who had tried to stem the popular
+excitement. "It would be a crime and a disgrace, and I'll shoot the man
+that puts the rope 'round the boy's neck."
+
+"You're right," cried three others, who themselves had left children in
+their distant homes. "The boy's life must be saved."
+
+The two men who held Ben in their grasp released him, and our young hero
+found himself free. There was a great rush of joy to his heart as he saw
+the shadow of death lifted from him, but he was not satisfied that his
+life alone should be spared. He resolved to make an appeal in turn.
+"Gentlemen," he said, "I am only a boy, but I want to speak a few words,
+and those words shall be true."
+
+Ben had been a good speaker at school, and he had unconsciously assumed
+the attitude with which he commenced declaiming upon the school-rostrum.
+
+"Hear the boy!" shouted several; and there was a general silence. It was
+a new thing to be addressed by a boy, and there was a feeling of
+curiosity as to what he would say.
+
+"I want to say this," continued Ben--"that what Mr. Dewey has said is
+strictly true. Not one of us is guilty of the crime that has been
+charged upon us. The men who have testified against us are thieves, and
+robbed us of these very horses, which we finally recovered from them.
+May I tell you how it all happened?"
+
+Partly from curiosity, the permission was given, and Ben, in plain,
+simple language, told the story of how they had received Mosely and
+Hadley hospitably, and awoke in the morning to find that they had stolen
+their horses. He also described the manner in which later they tried to
+rob Dewey when confined to his bed by sickness. His words were frank and
+sincere, and bore the impress of truth. Evidently a sentiment was being
+created favorable to the prisoners, and Bill Mosely saw it and
+trembled.
+
+"Let us go," he whispered to Hadley.
+
+"If you wish to know whether I speak the truth," Ben concluded, "look in
+the faces of those two men who have accused us."
+
+The terror in the face of Bill Mosely was plainly to be seen. Suddenly
+the minds of the fickle multitude veered round to the two accusers, and
+shouts arose: "The boy's right! Hang the thieves!"
+
+Then Bill Mosely did perhaps the most unwise thing possible. His courage
+fairly broke down, and he started to run. Immediately a dozen men were
+on his track. He was brought back, moaning and begging for mercy, but
+the crowd was in no merciful mood. Victims they demanded, and when the
+rope was brought the two wretched men were summarily suspended to the
+branches of two neighboring trees.
+
+They had fallen into the pit which they had prepared for others.
+
+As for Ben, he became the hero of the hour. The miners raised him on
+their shoulders and bore him aloft in triumph to the hotel from which he
+had so recently been dragged to execution.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+AFTER THE EXECUTION.
+
+
+While Ben rejoiced and lifted silent thanks to God for his narrow escape
+from a shameful death, he felt no satisfaction in the knowledge that the
+men who had basely conspired against them had suffered the like terrible
+fate. He averted his head in horror from the sight, and, innocent as he
+was of fault, he felt depressed to think that his words had resulted in
+bringing this punishment upon them.
+
+I have said that he was the hero of the hour. Boys were scarce in
+California, and the hearts of the miners warmed to him on account of his
+youth and the memories it called up of their own children far away.
+
+A self-appointed committee waited upon him and asked him to stay with
+them.
+
+"We'll all help you along," they said. "We will make your share equal
+to that of the luckiest miner among us. You're true grit, and we respect
+you for it. What do you say?"
+
+"What shall I do, Jake?" he asked of Bradley.
+
+"It's a fair offer, Ben. Perhaps you'd best stay. I'd stay too, only I
+want to see Dick Dewey safe in 'Frisco. When he and his gal are j'ined
+I'll come back and try my luck here."
+
+"I will do the same, Jake. I want to go to San Francisco and see the
+lady who was so kind to me. I sha'n't feel that I've done all my duty
+till I have seen her and Mr. Dewey united. Then I shall be ready to come
+back."
+
+"Tell 'em so, Ben."
+
+Ben gave this answer to those who had asked him to stay, thanking them
+gratefully for their kind offer. His answer gave general satisfaction.
+
+Ben could hardly realize that these very men had been impatient to hang
+him only an hour before. He was thankful for this change in their
+sentiments, though he did not pretend to understand it.
+
+Bradley and Dewey, knowing the fickleness of a mining-community, were a
+little apprehensive that their original suspicions might again be
+aroused, and that some among them might be led to think they had make a
+mistake, after all, and hung the wrong men. That would be serious, and
+perhaps dangerous to them. They reflected that only Ben's speech had
+turned the tide of sentiment, and the two thieves had been hung on the
+unsupported word of a boy. Might not this occur to some of the company
+in some of their cooler moments? They decided in a secret conference
+that it would be best for them to get away early the next morning--that
+is, as early as practicable--before any change had come over the minds
+of their new friends.
+
+Later, however, they were relieved from their momentary apprehension.
+
+Two men who had been out hunting did not return to the camp till an hour
+after the execution had taken place.
+
+"What's happened? they asked.
+
+"We've only been hangin' a couple of hoss-thieves," was answered coolly
+by one of their comrades. "We came near hangin' the wrong men, but we
+found out our mistake."
+
+The two hunters went to view the bodies of the malefactors, who were
+still suspended from the extemporized gallows.
+
+"I know them men," said one with sudden recognition.
+
+"What do you know about them? Did you ever meet them?"
+
+"I reckon I did. They camped with me one night, and in the morning they
+were missing, and all my gold-dust too."
+
+"Then it's true what the boy said? they're thieves, and no mistake?"
+
+"You've made no mistake this time. You've hung the right men."
+
+This fresh testimony was at once communicated to the miners, and
+received with satisfaction, as one or two had been a little in doubt as
+to whether the two men were really guilty. No one heard it with more
+pleasure than Dewey and Bradley, who felt now that they were completely
+exonerated.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+BEN WINS LAURELS AS A SINGER.
+
+
+Our party had no further complaint to make of ill-treatment. During the
+remainder of the evening they were treated with distinguished
+consideration, and every effort was made to make their sojourn pleasant.
+
+As the miners gathered round a blazing log-fire built out of doors,
+which the cool air of evening made welcome, it was proposed that those
+who had any vocal gifts should exert them for the benefit of the
+company.
+
+Three or four of those present had good voices, and sang such songs as
+they knew.
+
+Finally, one of the miners turned to Bradley. "Can't you sing us
+something, friend?" he asked.
+
+"You don't know what you're asking," said Bradley. "My voice sounds like
+a rusty saw. If you enjoy the howlin' of wolves, mayhap you might like
+my singin'."
+
+"I reckon you're excused," said the questioner.
+
+"My friend Dick Dewey will favor you, perhaps. I never heard him sing,
+but I reckon he might if he tried."
+
+"Won't you sing?" was asked of Dewey.
+
+Richard Dewey would have preferred to remain silent, but his life had
+been spared, and the men around him, though rough in manner, seemed to
+mean kindly. He conquered his reluctance, therefore, and sang a couple
+of ballads in a clear, musical voice with good effect.
+
+"Now it's the boy's turn," said one.
+
+Ben, was in fact, a good singer. He had attended a country
+singing-school for two terms, and he was gifted with a strong and
+melodious voice. Bradley had expected that he would decline bashfully,
+but Ben had a fair share of self-possession, and felt there was no good
+reason to decline.
+
+"I don't know many songs," he said, "but I am ready to do my share."
+
+The first song which occurred to him was "Annie Laurie," and he sang it
+through with taste and effect. As his sweet, boyish notes fell on the
+ears of the crowd they listened as if spellbound, and at the end gave
+him a round of applause.
+
+I don't wish to represent that Ben was a remarkable singer. His
+knowledge of music was only moderate, but his voice was unusually strong
+and sweet, and his audience were not disposed to be critical.
+
+He sang one song after another, until at last he declared that he was
+tired and would sing but one more. "What shall it be?" he asked.
+
+"'Sweet Home,'" suggested one; and the rest took it up in chorus.
+
+That is a song that appeals to the heart at all times and in all places,
+but it may well be understood that among the California mountains,
+before an audience every man of whom was far from home, it would have a
+peculiar and striking effect. The singer, too, as he sang, had his
+thoughts carried back to the home three thousand miles away where lived
+all who were near and dear to him, and the thought lent new tenderness
+and pathos to his song.
+
+Tears came to the eyes of more than one rough miner as he listened to
+the sweet strains, and there were few in whom home-memories were not
+excited.
+
+There was a moment's hush, and then a great roar of applause. Ben had
+made a popular success of which a prima donna might have been proud.
+
+One enthusiastic listener wanted to take up a contribution for the
+singer, but Ben steadily declined it. "I am glad if I have given any one
+pleasure," he said, "but I can't take money for that."
+
+"Ben," said Jake Bradley, when the crowd had dispersed, "you've made two
+ten-strikes to-day. You've carried off all the honors, both as an orator
+and a singer."
+
+"You saved all our lives by that speech of yours, Ben," said Dewey. "We
+will not soon forget that."
+
+"It was your plea for me that give me the chance, Mr. Dewey," said Ben.
+"I owe my life, first of all to you."
+
+"That does not affect my obligation to you. If I am ever in a situation
+to befriend you, you may count with all confidence upon Richard Dewey."
+
+"Thank you, Mr. Dewey. I would sooner apply to you than any man I
+know--except Bradley," he added, noticing that his faithful comrade
+seemed disturbed by what he said.
+
+Jake Bradley brightened up and regarded Ben with a look of affection. He
+had come to feel deeply attached to the boy who had shared his dangers
+and privations, and in all proved himself a loyal friend.
+
+The next morning the three friends set out for San Francisco, carrying
+with them the hearty good wishes of the whole mining-settlement.
+
+"You have promised to come back?" said more than one.
+
+"Yes," said Bradley; "we'll come back if we ain't prevented, and I
+reckon we won't be unless we get hanged for hoss-stealin' somewhere on
+the road."
+
+This sally called forth a hearty laugh from the miners, who appreciated
+the joke.
+
+"It's all very well for you to laugh," said Bradley, shaking his head,
+"but I don't want to come any nearer hangin' than I was last night."
+
+"All's well that ends well," said one of the miners lightly.
+
+Neither Ben nor Richard Dewey could speak or think so lightly of the
+narrow escape they had had from a shameful death, and though they
+smiled, as was expected by the crowd, it was a grave smile, with no
+mirth in it.
+
+"You'll come back too, boy?" was said to Ben.
+
+"Yes, I expect to."
+
+"You won't be sorry for it.--Boys, let us stake out two claims for the
+boy and his friend, and when they come back we'll help them work them
+for a while."
+
+"Agreed! agreed!" said all.
+
+So with hearty manifestations of good-will the three friends rode on
+their way.
+
+"It's strange," observed Dewey, thoughtfully, "how this wild and lonely
+life effects the character. Some of these men who were so near hanging
+us on the unsupported accusation of two men of whom they knew nothing
+were good, law-abiding citizens at home. There they would not have
+dreamed of such summary proceedings."
+
+"That's where it comes in," said Bradley. "It ain't here as it is there.
+There's no time here to wait for courts and trials."
+
+"So you too are in favor of Judge Lynch?"
+
+"Judge Lynch didn't make any mistake when he swung off them two rascals,
+Hadley and Bill Mosely."
+
+"We might have been in their places, Jake," said Ben.
+
+"That would have been a pretty bad mistake," said Bradley, shrugging his
+shoulders.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+A LITTLE RETROSPECT.
+
+
+It will be remembered that a merchant in Albany, Mr. John Campbell, was
+the guardian of Miss Florence Douglas, whom our hero, Ben, had escorted
+from New York to San Francisco.
+
+The disappearance of his ward was exceedingly annoying, since it
+interfered with plans which he had very much at heart. He had an only
+son, Orton Campbell, now a young man of twenty-eight. He was young in
+years only, being a stiff, grave, wooden-faced man, who in his starched
+manners was a close copy of his father. Both father and son were
+excessively fond of money, and the large amount of the fortune of the
+young lady, who stood to the father in the relation of ward, had excited
+the covetousness of both. It was almost immediately arranged between
+father and son that she should marry the latter, either of her own free
+will or upon compulsion.
+
+In pursuance of this agreement, Mr. Orton Campbell took advantage of the
+ward's residence in his father's family to press upon her attentions
+which clearly indicated his ultimate object.
+
+Florence Douglas felt at first rather constrained to receive her
+guardian's son with politeness, and this, being misinterpreted, led to
+an avowal of love.
+
+Orton Campbell made his proposal in a confident, matter-of-fact manner,
+as if it were merely a matter of form, and the answer must necessarily
+be favorable.
+
+The young lady drew back in dignified surprise, hastily withdrawing the
+hand which he had seized. "I cannot understand, Mr. Campbell," she said,
+"what can have induced you to address me in this manner."
+
+"I don't know why you should be surprised, Miss Douglas," returned Orton
+Campbell, offended.
+
+"I have never given you any reason to suppose that I regarded you with
+favor."
+
+"You have always seemed glad to see me, but perhaps that was only
+coquetry," said Orton, in a disagreeable manner.
+
+"I certainly have never treated you with more than ordinary politeness,
+except, indeed, as my residence in your father's house has necessarily
+brought us nearer together."
+
+"I don't think, Miss Douglas, you would find me a bad match," said the
+young man, condescending to drop his sneering tone and plead his cause.
+"I am already worth a good sum of money. I am my father's partner, and I
+shall become richer every year."
+
+"It is not a matter of money with me, Mr. Campbell. When I marry, that
+will be a minor consideration."
+
+"Of course, because you have a fortune of your own."
+
+"Yes," said Florence, regarding him significantly, for she suspected
+that it was rather her fortune than herself that he desired, being no
+stranger to his love of money.
+
+Perhaps he understood her, for he continued: "Of course I don't care
+for that, you know. I should offer myself to you if you had nothing."
+
+This Florence Douglas thoroughly disbelieved. She answered coldly, "I
+thank you for the compliment you pay me, but I beg you to drop the
+subject."
+
+"I will wait."
+
+"You will wait in vain. I will look upon you as a friend if you desire
+it, but there can be nothing more than friendship between us."
+
+Orton Campbell was very much chagrined, and reported the result of his
+suit to his father.
+
+"I will speak to her myself," said the father. "As her guardian I ought
+to have some influence with her."
+
+He soon ascertained, however, that Florence Douglas had a will of her
+own.
+
+After a time he dropped persuasion and had recourse to threats. "Miss
+Douglas," he said, "I shall have to remind you that I am your guardian."
+
+"I am quite aware of that fact, sir."
+
+"And I shall remain in that position till you have completed your
+twenty-fifth year."
+
+"That is quite true, sir."
+
+"If you take any imprudent steps I shall think it necessary to
+interfere."
+
+"What do you mean, sir?"
+
+"I shall not allow you to fall a prey to any designing fortune-hunter."
+
+"You need not fear, sir: I am in no danger."
+
+"I am of a different opinion. I am quite aware that Richard Dewey has
+been seeking to ingratiate himself with you."
+
+"Then," said his ward with dignity, "I have no hesitation in informing
+you that he has succeeded."
+
+"Ha! I thought so. That is why you rejected my son."
+
+"Excuse me, sir: you are quite mistaken. I should refuse your son if
+there were no other man in the world likely to marry me."
+
+"And what is the matter with my son, Miss Douglas?" demanded her
+guardian, stiffly.
+
+Florence might have answered that he was too much like his father, but
+she did not care to anger her guardian unnecessarily, and she simply
+answered, "It would be quite impossible for me to regard him as I wish
+to regard the man whom I hope to marry."
+
+"But you could regard Richard Dewey in that way," sneered Campbell.
+"Well, Miss Douglas, I may as well tell you that he asked my permission
+yesterday to address you, and I ordered him out of my presence.
+Moreover, I have charged the servants not to admit him into the house."
+
+"So you have insulted him, Mr. Campbell?" said his ward, her eyes
+flashing with resentment.
+
+"It was the treatment which he deserved as an unscrupulous
+fortune-hunter."
+
+"That word will better apply to your son," said the young lady, coldly.
+"I shall not remain here to have Mr. Dewey insulted."
+
+"You will repent this, Miss Douglas," said her guardian, with an ugly
+frown. "Mark my words: I will keep you and Dewey apart. I have the
+power, and I will exert it."
+
+Two weeks later Richard Dewey sailed for California in search of
+fortune, and five months later Miss Douglas, fearing that her guardian
+might imprison her in a mad-house, escaped from his residence, and,
+aided by Ben, also managed to reach California. For a time Mr. Campbell
+was entirely ignorant of her place of refuge. The next chapter will show
+how he discovered it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+MR. CAMPBELL RECEIVES TIDINGS OF HIS WARD.
+
+
+"It is strange we can't find Florence," said Orton Campbell to his
+father one morning some months after the young lady's departure. "Is
+there no clue?"
+
+"The detective I have employed has failed to trace her."
+
+"Has he no theory?"
+
+"He suggests that she may have gone to Europe," said Mr. Campbell, "but
+I am not of that opinion."
+
+"What do you think, then?"
+
+"I suspect she has buried herself in some obscure country place under
+some assumed name, there to remain till she has attained her
+twenty-fifth year, when my guardianship ceases."
+
+"When will that be?"
+
+"Six months hence."
+
+"It is very important, then, that we should find her before that time,"
+said Orton Campbell, thoughtfully.
+
+"That is true. After the time referred to my power ceases, and I shall
+be unable to assist you in your plans."
+
+"Her fortune amounts to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, does it
+not?"
+
+"More than that. The interest has been accumulating till it amounts to
+nearer one hundred and seventy thousand dollars."
+
+Orton Campbell's eyes sparkled with covetous greed.
+
+"That is a stake worth playing for," he said. "With what I have of my
+own, it would make me independently rich."
+
+"Just so, Orton," said his father.
+
+"And nothing stands in the way but the caprice of a foolish girl! I
+declare, father, it is too exasperating. Suppose we try another
+detective? Your man can't be very sharp."
+
+"I have no objection, Orton," said the merchant, "but as he would be
+employed in your interest, it is only fair that you should pay the
+expense incurred."
+
+"I don't see that," said the son. "She is your ward, you know. It ought
+to come out of her property."
+
+"The item may not be allowed. In that case I should be responsible,"
+said John Campbell, cautiously.
+
+"I'll tell you what I will do, father: if she is found and I marry her,
+I'll freely pay the whole expense."
+
+"Suppose we find her, and she won't marry you: what then?" asked his
+father, keenly.
+
+The son looked nonplussed, but finally consented in that case to defray
+the expense out of his private means--that is, if it could not be taken
+out of the young lady's fortune.
+
+The matter having been satisfactorily adjusted, they were discussing the
+choice of a detective when a clerk came to the door of the private
+counting-room in which father and son were seated and said, "There's a
+man outside wants to speak to you, Mr. Campbell."
+
+"Who is he, Saunders?"
+
+"I think it's Jones, who used to be in your employ as light porter."
+
+"How does he look? Well-to-do?"
+
+"He is decidedly shabby," answered Saunders.
+
+"Come to ask help, probably," muttered the merchant. "I think I won't
+see him."
+
+Saunders left the office, but presently returned.
+
+"Well, has he gone?" asked the merchant.
+
+"No; he says he wants to see you on business of importance."
+
+"Of importance to himself, probably.--Shall I see him, Orton?"
+
+"Yes, father. If he is humbugging us, we can send him off."
+
+So permission was given, and almost immediately Saunders ushered into
+the room a short, broad-shouldered fellow, who looked very much like a
+professional tramp.
+
+"Good-morning, Mr. Campbell," said he, deferentially.
+
+"Humph, Jones, is it you? You don't look as if you had prospered."
+
+"No more I have, sir."
+
+"Don't come near me. Really, your appearance is very disreputable."
+
+"I can't help that, sir. I've just come from California in the steerage,
+and you can't keep very neat there."
+
+"I believe you went to California to make your fortune, didn't you,
+Jones?" said Orton Campbell, with a cynical smile.
+
+"Yes, Mr. Orton, I did."
+
+"And you didn't make it, I infer from your appearance."
+
+"I haven't got much money about me now," said Jones, with a shrug and a
+smile.
+
+"You would have done better not to have left my employment, Jones," said
+the merchant. "You wanted higher pay, I believe, and as I wouldn't give
+it, you decided that you could better yourself at the mines."
+
+"That is about so, sir."
+
+"Well, and what luck did you have?"
+
+"Good luck at first, sir. I made a thousand dollars at the mines in a
+few months."
+
+"Indeed!" said Orton, in surprise.
+
+"I came with it to San Francisco, and gambled it away in one night. Then
+I was on my beam-ends, as the sailors say."
+
+"Did you go back?"
+
+"No. I went to work in the city, and managed to get enough money to buy
+a steerage passage, and here I am."
+
+"I suppose you have come to ask me to take you back into my employ?
+That, I take it, is your business with me."
+
+"No, sir--not exactly."
+
+"Then, what is it?" asked the merchant, looking a little puzzled. It
+crossed his mind that Jones might so far have forgotten his rule never
+to give away money for any purpose as to suppose there was a chance to
+effect a loan.
+
+"I thought you and Mr. Orton might be willing to pay my expenses back to
+San Francisco," said Jones, coolly.
+
+"Are you out of your head, Jones?" demanded Orton Campbell, amazed at
+the man's effrontery.
+
+"Not at all."
+
+"If this is meant as a joke, Jones," said the merchant in a dignified
+tone, "it is a very poor--and, I may add, a very impudent--one. What
+possible claim have you on us, that you should expect such a favor?"
+
+"Have you heard anything of your ward, Mr. Campbell?" asked Jones, not
+in the least abashed.
+
+"No. What has my ward to do with your concerns?"
+
+"I have seen her," answered Jones, briefly.
+
+"Where?" asked John Campbell and his son simultaneously.
+
+"That information belongs to me," said Jones, quietly. "A detective
+doesn't work without pay."
+
+The two Campbells now began to see the point. This man had information
+to sell, and would not give it up without what he considered suitable
+compensation. They determined to drive the best possible bargain with
+him. He was poor, and probably could be bought over for a small sum.
+
+"Your information is worth something, Jones," said the merchant,
+guardedly. "I will go so far as to give you twenty-five dollars cash for
+it."
+
+"That won't do," said Jones, shaking his head.
+
+"Your information may be worth nothing," said Orton. "You may have seen
+her, but that doesn't show where she is now."
+
+"I know where she is now," said Jones.
+
+"Is she in California?"
+
+"I don't mind telling you as much as that, Mr. Orton."
+
+"Then we can find her without your assistance."
+
+"I don't think you can. At any rate, it will take time, especially as,
+if you don't make a bargain with me, I shall write her that you are on
+her track."
+
+Father and son looked at each other.
+
+It was evident that Jones was no fool, and they would be obliged to
+submit to his terms or give up the search, which was not to be thought
+of.
+
+"What do you propose, Jones?" asked Mr. Campbell, a little less
+haughtily.
+
+"That you pay my expenses back to California and one thousand dollars,"
+said Jones, promptly. "If you or Mr. Orton will go with me, I will show
+you where she lives, and then you can take your own course."
+
+This was finally agreed to, and Orton Campbell and the ex-porter sailed
+by the next steamer for San Francisco, where Florence Douglas, still
+boarding with Mrs. Armstrong, was waiting impatiently for news of
+Richard Dewey.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+A MORNING CALL.
+
+
+Florence Douglas had now been an inmate of Mrs. Armstrong's household
+for some months. She avoided making acquaintances, and therefore was
+often lonely. But she was buoyed up by the thought that Richard Dewey
+was somewhere in the State, and that the two messengers whom she had
+sent out would eventually find him. She felt great confidence in Ben,
+and also in Bradley, who had impressed her as an honest, straightforward
+man, though illiterate and not at all times superior to temptation.
+
+Her hope had been sustained by a letter received from Ben at the time he
+and Bradley were on the point of starting for the Sierras, where they
+had information that Dewey was engaged in mining. Then weeks passed, and
+she heard nothing. She began to feel anxious for the safety of her two
+agents, knowing that not alone wild beasts, but lawless men, were to be
+encountered among the mountains. Should Ben and his companion come to
+harm, she would be sincerely sorry for their fate, feeling in a measure
+responsible for it. Still more, Richard Dewey would then be left
+ignorant of her presence in California, and might return to the East in
+that ignorance, leaving her friendless and alone more than three
+thousand miles from her old home.
+
+How would her heart have been cheered could she have known that at that
+moment Richard Dewey, with his two faithful friends, was but four days'
+journey from the city! So it happens that good fortune is often nearer
+to us than we imagine, even when our hearts are most anxious.
+
+While she was trying to look on the bright side one morning, Mrs.
+Armstrong entered her room. "Miss Douglas," she said, "there is a
+gentleman in the parlor who wishes to see you."
+
+Her heart gave a great bound. Who could it be but Richard Dewey who
+would call upon her?
+
+"Did he give his name?" she asked, in agitation.
+
+"No; he said you would know him."
+
+"It must be Richard," she said to herself; and, controlling her
+agitation as well as she could, she descended to the parlor. She paused
+a moment before opening the door to regain her self-possession. Then,
+with an effort, she turned the knob, and entering the room, found
+herself face to face with Orton Campbell!
+
+It was so unexpected and so bitter a disappointment that an expression
+of blank dismay overspread her face, and she sank into the nearest chair
+without venturing on a single word of greeting.
+
+"You didn't expect to see me, Miss Douglas?" said Orton, enjoying the
+effect of his appearance, for he had never deceived himself with the
+thought that his father's ward would be glad to see him.
+
+By this time Florence had regained her self-possession, and with it came
+back scorn for the man whose object in pursuing her she well understood
+to be love of her fortune, not of herself.
+
+"You are entirely right, Mr. Campbell," she answered. "You are the last
+person I expected to see."
+
+"You don't appear very glad to see me," he continued.
+
+"Why should I appear so? You know very well that I am not glad to see
+you," said the heiress, frankly.
+
+"That is complimentary," said Orton, rather provoked, though he knew
+very well in advance that such was her feeling.
+
+"I suppose you didn't come here for compliments, Mr. Campbell?" said
+Florence, coldly.
+
+"You are right: I didn't."
+
+"May I ask if you are in San Francisco on business?"
+
+"You take things very coolly, I must say, Miss Douglas. Certainly you
+cannot be ignorant of my motive in coming here at great personal
+inconvenience."
+
+"I hope I have nothing to do with your reason."
+
+"You are the sole reason."
+
+"I am sorry to hear it."
+
+"I came to remonstrate with you on the very unwise step you took in
+running away from your legal guardian."
+
+"My legal guardian, as you call him, though I look upon him as such only
+as far as my property is concerned, rendered the step necessary."
+
+"I don't see how."
+
+"In plain terms, Mr. Orton Campbell, I believe that you and your father
+entered into a conspiracy to keep my fortune in the family by inducing
+me to become your wife."
+
+"I certainly did ask you to become my wife, but it was not because of
+your fortune," answered the young man.
+
+Florence's lip curled. She thoroughly disbelieved his statement. Though
+she said nothing, it was clear to him from her expression that she put
+no confidence in his words.
+
+"You may believe me or not," he said, doggedly; "but why should you
+think so poorly of yourself as to suppose you have nothing to attract
+lovers except your money?"
+
+"I may not be so modest as you suppose, Mr. Campbell. I do believe that
+I have won the love of a true and noble man. My doubt only related to
+yourself."
+
+"You mean Richard Dewey, I suppose?" said Orton Campbell, with a sneer.
+
+"I do mean Richard Dewey," answered Florence, with composure.
+
+"By the way, he came to California, I believe."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And you came here in pursuit of him?" he added, with a sneer.
+
+"I came here to find him, knowing that in him I had a true friend, while
+your father's persecution and your own made me feel the need of one."
+
+"Have you found him? Do you know where he is?" asked Orton Campbell,
+eagerly.
+
+"I only know he is somewhere at the mines. I have taken steps to find
+him, and hope eventually to succeed."
+
+"Why don't you advertise?" asked the young man, with an angry sneer.
+
+"Would you advise it?" asked Miss Douglas, coolly.
+
+"No," muttered Orton, for he feared such a step might prove successful.
+"What steps have you taken?" he asked.
+
+"I prefer to keep them to myself."
+
+"Miss Douglas," said Orton Campbell, after a pause, "all this is very
+foolish and humiliating. There is only one proper course for you to
+pursue."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"Return to New York with me in the next steamer, and place yourself once
+more under the care of my father, whose protection you never ought to
+have left."
+
+"'Protection'!" repeated Florence, with bitter emphasis. "What
+protection did he give me?"
+
+"All that was required."
+
+"'All that was required'? You know very well that you and he had
+conspired to put me in a mad-house if I would not agree to enrich you by
+giving you my hand."
+
+"That is not true," said Orton Campbell, rather confused.
+
+"'Not true'? He distinctly threatened to do it as a means of terrifying
+me into compliance with his and your wishes. It was not until then that
+I decided to leave your house and seek some place of refuge until time
+and the law should set me completely free from your family and their
+machinations."
+
+"It is evident, Miss Douglas, that you are under a delusion. Your way of
+talking is sufficient to show that your mind is affected. Any good
+physician would need no other proof."
+
+Florence Douglas looked at him with distrust. Was this a threat, or how
+should she interpret it?
+
+"It is convenient, Mr. Orton Campbell," she retorted with spirit, "to
+charge with madness those who oppose us. At home I felt afraid of your
+threats: here I am secure."
+
+He thought that perhaps he had gone too far, since the young lady was
+independent of him, and it was not certain that he could gain possession
+of her.
+
+"Miss Douglas," he said, "I have already told you that you have taken an
+unwise step. There is one way to remedy it, and I hope I may be able to
+induce you to take it. Let me assure you that I have called upon you as
+a friend, as a warm friend, as one who seeks to be something more than a
+friend."
+
+"Well, sir?"
+
+"Let me urge you to consent to an immediate marriage with me, and to
+accompany me home on the next steamer. My father will receive you as a
+daughter, and never allude to your flight."
+
+"I suppose I ought to thank you for your disinterested proposal, Mr.
+Campbell, but I can only tell you that you ask what is entirely out of
+the question. This is final. Allow me to wish you good-morning."
+
+"But, Miss Douglas--"
+
+She did not turn back nor heed these last words, and Orton Campbell
+found himself alone.
+
+He rose slowly from his seat, and an evil look came into his eyes. "She
+has not done with me yet," he muttered as he left the house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+A SECRET CONFERENCE.
+
+
+The affairs of Florence Douglas are so interwoven with the fortunes of
+my young hero that I find myself obliged to devote a part of my space to
+their record. I confess that I have no pleasure in detailing the schemes
+of Orton Campbell, who seems to me a very disagreeable character, but it
+seems necessary.
+
+After leaving the presence of Miss Douglas he took a walk, to consider
+the situation and decide what it was most expedient to do. He was
+spending considerable time and money in the effort to recover his
+father's ward, and he did not like to fail. Yet it was not easy to
+decide upon any plan which would bring success. It was not a matter in
+which he could invoke the assistance of the law. The young lady's manner
+convinced him that she would not of her own free will consent to
+accompany him back. What, then, was to be done?
+
+On the principle that two heads are better than one, he resolved to take
+his companion, Jones, into his confidence and ask him to make a
+suggestion.
+
+"How did you find the young lady, Mr. Orton?" asked his follower on his
+return to the hotel.
+
+"Very offish, Jones."
+
+"Then she wasn't glad to see you?" said Jones, with a grin.
+
+"By no means. She hardly treated me with civility."
+
+"That's because of the other man," said Jones, sagaciously.
+
+"You are right. Mr. Dewey, as I learned, is in California."
+
+"Then maybe they have an understanding together."
+
+"No; she doesn't know where he is."
+
+Jones was puzzled, and showed it in a way common to men of his class. He
+scratched his head and looked perplexed.
+
+"Then, what good is it for her to stay here?" he asked, after a pause.
+
+"She is taking steps to find this Dewey, who is somewhere at the mines,
+though she would not tell me what they were. He may turn up any time,
+and then good-bye to all my hopes."
+
+"You want to marry her yourself, Mr. Orton?"
+
+"Of course. Otherwise I wouldn't have come so far in search of her."
+
+"The young lady is very rich, isn't she?" asked Jones, shrewdly.
+
+"She has a moderate fortune," replied Orton, guardedly; "but that
+doesn't influence me."
+
+"Of course not," said Jones; but there was something in his tone which
+made Campbell eye him sharply.
+
+"I am no fortune-hunter," said he, stiffly.
+
+"You'd want to marry her just the same if she hadn't a cent?"
+
+"Of course I would," snapped Orton.
+
+"Now, that's what I call real love," said Jones. "To be sure, you're
+rich yourself, and needn't mind."
+
+"Precisely so. I may not be rich, but I can support a wife."
+
+"As the young lady prefers some one else, I suppose we may as well go
+home?"
+
+"That's what I want to talk to you about, Jones. Very likely this Dewey
+is dead; at any rate, he's a mere fortune-hunter. Now, although Florence
+doesn't care to marry me now, if our marriage could be brought about she
+would no doubt be reconciled to it after a while. Now, Jones, have you
+anything to suggest?"
+
+Orton Campbell threw himself back in his chair and eyed Jones. He had
+formed a plan, but, if possible, he wanted the proposal to come from
+Jones.
+
+Jones was not over-scrupulous; he had never been so, and the months he
+had spent in the mines in the company of adventurers of all kinds had
+not improved him. Even law-abiding citizens often lost their regard for
+law in California, and Jones had fewer scruples to overcome than most.
+
+He suggested a plan which met with the approval of his employer, and
+promised his co-operation on the understanding that if successful
+Campbell should properly reward him.
+
+It may be added that of the thousand dollars which he was to receive for
+his information he had actually received but three hundred, Orton
+Campbell having on various pretexts put off paying him. He received the
+assurance that this also should be paid him without further delay as
+soon as the plan referred to was successfully carried out.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+MISS DOUGLAS RECEIVES A MESSAGE.
+
+
+Florence Douglas felt somewhat uneasy after the visit of Orton Campbell.
+Though he had no legal right to interfere with her, even as the
+representative of his father, she knew the unscrupulous character of the
+man, and that he would not have spent time and money in a visit to
+California unless he had a strong hope of carrying her back with him.
+Her chief fear was that he would carry out his father's threat and try
+to have her pronounced of unsound mind, in which case he could have her
+confined in an asylum.
+
+"If I could only hear from Richard Dewey!" she fervently ejaculated. "If
+he were here I would have nothing to fear."
+
+Two days passed, and, considerably to her relief, she heard nothing from
+Campbell. She began to hope that he had given up his purpose and made
+arrangements to return to the East. She was determined to refuse him an
+audience if he should call upon her again, either with or without
+companions. That she might feel more secure, she took her landlady, Mrs.
+Armstrong, into her confidence.
+
+This lady had become much attached to her guest, and listened with great
+indignation to the account which Florence gave her. "My dear Miss
+Douglas," she said, "if that man Campbell calls, leave me to deal with
+him."
+
+"How would you propose to do it?" asked Florence, smiling.
+
+"I would give him a piece of my mind, you may depend upon that."
+
+"He would be rude to you."
+
+"In that case I would order him out of the house," said Mrs. Armstrong,
+resolutely. "The man needs a lesson, and I should like to be the one to
+give it to him."
+
+"I shall be very glad to have you meet him in my place," said the young
+lady. "An interview with him is something which I would gladly avoid."
+
+"That you shall! I only hope he'll come soon. He'll find one woman that
+isn't afraid of him."
+
+"I am not afraid of him, Mrs. Armstrong, but I own that I am
+apprehensive of what he may do. It would not surprise me at all if he
+should make his appearance with some needy physician who for a fee will
+be ready to pronounce me insane."
+
+"Don't be alarmed, Miss Florence. I'll send the doctor packing, as well
+as his employer. Perhaps he will pronounce me insane. If he does, he is
+welcome to. I think he would find me an unsatisfactory patient."
+
+"I think so too," said Florence, smiling, as she scanned the firm,
+determined face and the tall and muscular form of her hostess, who
+certainly would never be classed as a weak or timid woman.
+
+On the afternoon of the third day a knock was heard at the door, for as
+yet it was unprovided with a bell.
+
+Mrs. Armstrong and Florence were sitting together.
+
+The two glanced at each other, and the same thought came to each.
+
+"It may be Orton Campbell," said Florence, who was the first to speak.
+
+"Then let me go to the door. Stay where you are, Miss Douglas; I will
+receive the gentleman."
+
+But when the landlady opened the door she saw a man who looked like a
+coachman. A covered carriage was at the gate, which he had evidently
+driven.
+
+"Well, sir, what can I do for you?" demanded the landlady, sharply.
+
+"Is there a young lady living with you named Florence Douglas?" asked
+the man.
+
+"Miss Florence Douglas boards here," answered Mrs. Armstrong.
+
+"I've got a message for her, ma'am."
+
+"If it's from Mr. Orton Campbell, you can go back and tell him that she
+won't receive any messages from him," said the landlady, resolutely.
+
+"I don't know who you mean, ma'am," replied the man, in apparent
+surprise. "I don't know any such gentleman."
+
+"Then who sent you?" inquired the landlady, whose turn it was to be
+surprised.
+
+"It's a man just come from the mines," said the driver--"a Mr. Dewey."
+
+Florence had drawn near to the head of the stairs in her interest to
+hear who had called, and she caught the name of her lover. She came
+flying down stairs, and demanded breathlessly, "What about Richard
+Dewey? I am Miss Douglas, and your message is for me."
+
+Jones, for it was he, touched his hat respectfully, and held out a note
+penned on rough paper and written in pencil.
+
+"This will explain everything, miss," he said.
+
+Florence took the paper, and with some difficulty read it. It ran thus:
+
+     "DEAR FLORENCE: I have struggled to reach you, but
+     have been struck down by fever when I was nearly at
+     the end of my journey. I have had bad luck at the
+     mines, and was almost discouraged, when I learned
+     that you were in San Francisco. Poor as I was, I
+     determined to come to you, even at the risk of your
+     misjudging me. I am not able to write much, and must
+     defer particulars till I see you. I am staying at
+     the house of a kind stranger a few miles from the
+     city. The man whom I send with this note is
+     trustworthy. If you will trust yourself to his
+     guidance, he will bring you to me. I know that I am
+     asking a great deal of you, but I think you will not
+     fail me.
+
+     "Yours, with love,
+
+     "RICHARD DEWEY."
+
+The writing was hurried--indeed, it was hardly more than a scrawl.
+
+"He must be very weak," thought Florence, her heart swelling with
+painful emotions.--"My good friend," she said to the landlady, "Richard
+is sick and poor. He asks me to come to him. I must go."
+
+"But can you trust that man? Is the letter genuine?" asked Mrs.
+Armstrong, suspiciously.
+
+"I am sure it is genuine. It is written as Richard would write."
+
+"But don't be in haste, Miss Douglas--Florence. Make some inquiries, and
+find out whether this news can be depended upon."
+
+"Would you have me hesitate when Richard needs me?" asked Florence,
+reproachfully. "No, Mrs. Armstrong, I must go, and at once. I have
+waited so long to see him!"
+
+"He will be very glad to see you, miss," said Jones respectfully. "He
+has been talking about you constant."
+
+"Were Ben and Mr. Bradley with him? Why didn't one of them come?"
+
+"Because, miss," said Jones with ready invention, though he had never
+heard of either of the persons mentioned, "one went for the doctor, and
+the other stayed to take care of him."
+
+This seemed very plausible. Without a particle of suspicion Florence
+Douglas hastily dressed herself and entered the carriage in waiting.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+WALKING INTO A TRAP.
+
+
+The thought that she was so soon to see Richard Dewey, and to minister
+to his comfort, was a source of pleasure to Florence. Her patient
+waiting was at length to be rewarded. What mattered it to her that he
+was poor and sick? He had all the more need of her.
+
+"It's a long ride, miss," said Jones as he closed the carriage-door. "I
+hope you won't be tired before we get there."
+
+"I shall not mind it," said Florence. "How far is it?"
+
+"I don't rightly know. It's a matter of ten miles, I'm thinkin'."
+
+"Very well."
+
+Jones resumed his seat, and Florence gave herself up to pleasant
+thoughts. She felt thankful that she was blessed with abundant means,
+since it would enable her to spare no expense in providing for the sick
+man. Others might call him a fortune-hunter, but that produced no
+impression upon her, except to make her angry. She had given her whole
+love and confidence to the man whom her heart had chosen.
+
+The carriage rolled onward rapidly: as from time to time she glanced out
+of the window, she saw that they had left behind the town and were in
+the open country. She gave herself no concern, however, and did not
+question Jones, taking it for granted that he was on the right road, and
+would carry her to the place where Richard Dewey had found a temporary
+refuge.
+
+"It is some poor place, probably," she reflected, "but if he can be
+moved I will have him brought into town, where he can see a skilful
+doctor daily."
+
+At the end of an hour and a half there was a sudden stop.
+
+Florence looked out of the carriage-window, and observed that they were
+in front of a shabby-looking dwelling of two stories.
+
+Jones leaped from his elevated perch and opened the door of the
+carriage. "This is the place, miss," he said. "Did you get tired?"
+
+"No, but I am glad we have arrived."
+
+"It's a poor place, miss, but Mr. Dewey was took sick sudden, so I was
+told, and it was the best they could do."
+
+"It doesn't matter. Perhaps he can be moved."
+
+"Perhaps so. Will you go in?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+The door was opened, and a slatternly-looking woman of sinister aspect
+appeared at the threshold. Florence took no particular notice of her
+appearance, but asked, hurriedly, "How is he?"
+
+"Oh, he'll get along," answered the woman, carelessly. "Will you come
+in?"
+
+"He is not dangerously sick, then?" said Florence, relieved.
+
+"He's got a fever, but ain't goin' to die this time."
+
+"This is Mrs. Bradshaw, Miss Douglas," said Jones, volunteering an
+introduction.
+
+"I thank you, Mrs. Bradshaw, for your kindness to a sick man and a
+stranger," said Florence, earnestly. "Can I see him now?"
+
+"Yes, miss, if you'll just walk up stairs. I hope you'll excuse the
+looks of things; I haven't had time to fix up."
+
+"Oh, don't mention it."
+
+In a tumult of emotion Florence followed her guide up a rough staircase.
+
+On the landing Mrs. Bradshaw opened a door and, standing aside, invited
+Florence to enter.
+
+On a sofa, with his back to her, lay the figure of a man covered with a
+shawl.
+
+"Richard!" said the visitor, eagerly.
+
+The recumbent figure slowly turned, and revealed to the dismayed
+Florence, not the face of the man she expected to see, but that of Orton
+Campbell.
+
+"Mr. Campbell!" she ejaculated, in bewilderment.
+
+"I see you know me, Miss Douglas," said Orton Campbell, throwing off the
+shawl and rising from the couch.
+
+For the first time it dawned upon Florence that she had walked into a
+trap. She hurried to the door and strove to open it, but Mrs. Bradshaw
+had locked it.
+
+"What does this mean, Mr. Campbell?" she demanded with spirit, in spite
+of her terror. "Is this unworthy trick of your devising?"
+
+"I am afraid I must confess that it is," said Orton, coolly.
+
+"And it was all a falsehood about Richard Dewey's sickness?"
+
+"Yes."
+
+"And the note?"
+
+"I wrote it myself."
+
+"Then, sir, you have acted shamefully," said Florence, indignantly.
+
+"I am afraid I have," said Orton Campbell, smiling, "but I couldn't help
+it!"
+
+"'Couldn't help it'?" repeated Miss Douglas.
+
+"No; you would not receive me, and I had to contrive an interview."
+
+"Do you know anything of Richard Dewey?"
+
+"No; he is perfectly well, so far as I know, or he may be dead. Pray be
+seated."
+
+"I would rather stand. May I ask what you expect to gain by this base
+deception?"
+
+"Your consent to a marriage with me."
+
+"Then it is clear you don't know me, Orton Campbell."
+
+"It is quite as clear, Miss Florence Douglas, that you don't know me."
+
+"I believe you capable of any atrocity."
+
+"Then you do know me. I am capable of anything that will break down your
+opposition to my suit."
+
+"Do you propose to keep me here?"
+
+"Yes, until you give me a favorable answer."
+
+"That will never be."
+
+"Then you will stay here an indefinite period."
+
+"Are there no laws in California?"
+
+"None that will interfere with me. The people who live here are devoted
+to my interests, as you will find. I don't wish to hurry you in your
+decision, and will therefore leave you for the present. Your meals will
+be sent you at regular times, and I will call again to-morrow."
+
+He drew a key from his pocket, opened the door, and left the room,
+locking the door behind him.
+
+Florence sank into a chair, almost in despair.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+A HARD-HEARTED JAILER.
+
+
+Florence soon recovered a degree of self-possession, and began to
+consider the situation. The room in which she so unexpectedly found
+herself a prisoner was about fifteen feet square. There were two front
+windows, from which she took a survey of the neighborhood, which she had
+but slightly observed from the windows of the carriage. She could see no
+other house, and naturally concluded that this had been selected on
+account of its lonely location.
+
+The distance from the window-sill to the ground was not over twelve
+feet, and Florence began to consider whether she could not manage to
+escape in this way.
+
+She tried to open one of the windows, but could not stir it. Closer
+examination showed her that it had been nailed down. She went to the
+second window, and found that secured in a similar way.
+
+"They evidently anticipated that I would try to escape," she thought to
+herself.
+
+Next her thoughts recurred to the woman who appeared to be the mistress
+of the house. Not that she had any intention of appealing to her
+kindness of heart, for the hard-featured Mrs. Bradshaw was not a woman
+likely to be influenced by any such considerations. Florence had enjoyed
+but a transient view of the lady's features, but she already had a
+tolerably correct idea of her character.
+
+"She is probably mercenary," thought Florence, "and is in Orton
+Campbell's pay. I must outbid him."
+
+This thought inspired hope, especially when from the window she saw her
+persecutor ride away on horseback. This would gave her a fair field and
+a chance to try the effect of money upon her jailer without risk of
+interruption. She would have felt less sanguine of success if she had
+heard the conversation which had just taken place between Mrs. Bradshaw
+and her captor:
+
+"Mind, Mrs. Bradshaw, you must not let the young lady leave her room on
+any consideration."
+
+"All right, sir."
+
+"I take it for granted, Mrs. Bradshaw, you are not easily taken in?"
+
+"I should say not, sir," said the woman, emphatically.
+
+"The young lady will try to impose upon you while I am away."
+
+"Then she'd better save her trouble," said Mrs. Bradshaw, tossing her
+head.
+
+"She's very artful," said Orton. "Most crazy people are."
+
+"You don't mean to say she's crazy?" said Mrs. Bradshaw in surprise.
+"She don't look like it."
+
+"You are quite right. She doesn't look like it, but she wrong here,"
+continued Campbell, tapping his forehead. "Why, she fancies herself
+immensely rich, Mrs. Bradshaw, when, as a matter of fact, she's a
+penniless cousin of mine, who would have gone to the poorhouse but for
+my father's charity."
+
+"You don't say so!" exclaimed Mrs. Bradshaw, interested.
+
+"Sometimes she thinks she's worth millions of dollars. I wish she were,
+for in that case my father would be relieved of the burden of supporting
+her."
+
+"To be sure, sir!"
+
+"Some time since she managed to elude our vigilance and escaped from our
+home in Albany. Knowing how feeble-minded she was, we felt very anxious
+about her, but for some time were unable to get a trace of her. Finally,
+we learned that she had been seen in California, and I came out at great
+personal inconvenience to bring her back."
+
+"Very kind of you, sir, I am sure: but how could she travel so far
+without money?"
+
+"That is easily explained. She opened my father's desk and took out some
+hundreds of dollars," answered Orton Campbell, with unblushing
+falsehood. "Of course, we don't consider her responsible, as she is of
+unsound mind. Otherwise, we should look upon her as very ungrateful."
+
+"She seems to be very good-looking," observed Mrs. Bradshaw.
+
+"So she is, and if her mind were healthy I can imagine that she would be
+admired. As it is, her beauty counts for nothing."
+
+"To be sure!"
+
+"I hope to calm her down, and induce her without a violent disturbance
+to embark on the next steamer for New York with me. She won't listen to
+me now, but I shall call to-morrow forenoon and see how she appears.
+Meanwhile, she will probably try to bribe you to release her. She may
+promise you thousands, perhaps millions, of dollars, for it's all the
+same to her, poor thing! But of course you're too sensible a woman to be
+taken in by the promises of a crazy girl?"
+
+"I should say so!" returned Mrs. Bradshaw, who was thoroughly deceived
+by the artful story of her employer, who, by the way, had promised her
+one hundred dollars for her co-operation in his scheme.
+
+"She will probably tell you that she came to California in search of her
+lover, who is at the mines. Of course there is no such person, but she
+thinks there is."
+
+"I understand," said the woman, confidently.
+
+"I thought you would. Well, Mrs. Bradshaw, I will see you to-morrow. I
+am sure you are to be relied upon."
+
+About six o'clock Mrs. Bradshaw carried up some supper to her prisoner.
+
+"I hope you've got an appetite, miss," she said.
+
+"Stay a moment," said Florence, eagerly. "I want to speak to you."
+
+"Now it's coming," thought Mrs. Bradshaw, with some curiosity. She was
+rather taken aback by the first words of her prisoner:
+
+"How much money has Mr. Orton Campbell promised to pay you for assisting
+him in his plot?"
+
+"Well, I declare!" said Mrs. Bradshaw, bridling, for though she had been
+bribed she did not like to confess it.
+
+"He is to pay me rent for this room," she said, after a pause.
+
+"Then I am your lodger, am I?" asked Florence.
+
+"I suppose so," answered the woman, rather embarrassed by this
+unexpected question.
+
+"Very well, then. I don't think I care to occupy the room. I will pay
+you a week's rent out of my own purse, and leave you after supper."
+
+"I think not," said Mrs. Bradshaw, decidedly.
+
+"Then I am to consider myself your prisoner?"
+
+"You may call it so if you like."
+
+"It is just as well to call things by their right names. Of course Mr.
+Campbell has hired you to detain me here. Tell me how much he is to pay
+you, and I will pay you more to release me."
+
+"Then you are rich, I suppose?" said the woman.
+
+"Yes, I am rich."
+
+Mrs. Bradshaw laughed. "You are worth several millions, I suppose?" she
+said, mockingly.
+
+"Certainly not. Who told you so?"
+
+"Mr. Campbell warned me that you would pretend you were rich."
+
+"It is no pretence; I am rich, though at present his father has the
+greater part of my fortune under his charge."
+
+"Oh, of course!" said the woman, laughing again. "I understand all about
+it."
+
+"What has Orton Campbell told you?" asked Florence, suspiciously.
+
+"He said you would pretend to be rich, and try to bribe me, though you
+were only a poor relation of his who would have gone to the poorhouse
+unless his father had supported you out of charity."
+
+"He has deceived you, Mrs. Bradshaw. His father wanted me to marry this
+man in order to keep my fortune in his own family. That is why I ran
+away from his house."
+
+"What made you come to California?" asked the woman.
+
+"Because the man whom I really loved was at work somewhere in the
+mines."
+
+"Ho! ho!" laughed Mrs. Bradshaw, loudly.
+
+"Why do you laugh?"
+
+"Because you are as crazy as a loon. Mr. Campbell told me just what you
+would say. He told me all about your stealing money from his father's
+desk, and running off to California after a lover in the mines. It's
+turned out exactly as he said."
+
+"Did he dare to slander me in that way?" demanded Florence, so
+indignantly that her jailer drew back in some alarm.
+
+"No violence, miss, if you please," she said. "You'd better be quiet, or
+you'll have to be tied."
+
+"Good Heavens!" exclaimed Florence, "I would not have believed Orton
+Campbell so false and artful!"
+
+"He's acting for your good, miss. So you'd better not make a fuss;" and
+the landlady left the room, not failing to lock the door securely behind
+her.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+A STAR IN THE CLOUD.
+
+
+Meanwhile, though things looked dark for Florence and favorable for her
+persecutor, there was one circumstance that threatened failure to the
+latter's plans. Orton Campbell was a mean man, and his meanness in this
+instance worked against him. He had promised his confederate, Jones, a
+thousand dollars as the price of his information and co-operation, but
+intended all the while to avoid paying it if it were a possible thing.
+Of this sum seven hundred dollars were still due, besides an extra sum
+for the services of Jones in making Florence a captive.
+
+It was in regard to these sums that Jones called on Mr. Campbell on the
+evening succeeding the success of the plot.
+
+Orton Campbell was about to go out when Jones appeared at his hotel.
+
+"I would like to see you a few minutes, Mr. Orton," said the man
+respectfully.
+
+"You must come some other time, Jones," said Campbell, carelessly; "I've
+got an engagement."
+
+"I must see you now, sir," said Jones, still respectfully, but in a
+resolute tone.
+
+"'Must'?" repeated Orton Campbell, arching his brows. "You are
+impertinent."
+
+"Call me what you please," said Jones, doggedly; "I'm not to be put
+off."
+
+"What do you mean?" demanded his employer, angrily.
+
+"You know well enough. I want the money you are owing me."
+
+"You seem to be in a hurry," said Campbell, with a sneer.
+
+"You don't," retorted Jones. "All I ask is that you will keep your
+promise."
+
+"What promise do you refer to?"
+
+"'What promise do I refer to?' You said if I would join you in
+_kidnapping_--"
+
+"Hush!" said Orton looking around, apprehensive of listeners.
+
+"The young lady," Jones continued, "you would pay me the seven hundred
+dollars you owed me, and two hundred dollars extra for my help."
+
+Now, Orton Campbell knew very well that he had made this promise, but
+the payment of nine hundred dollars he dreaded as much as some of my
+readers would dread the extraction of half a dozen teeth. He had got all
+he needed from Jones, and he decided that it would be safe to throw him
+off. It might be dishonorable, but for that he cared little.
+
+"I suppose you have my promise in writing, Jones?" he said, with a
+sneer.
+
+"No, I haven't, Mr. Campbell."
+
+"Then you can't prove that I owe you anything, I take it."
+
+"You don't mean to say, Mr. Orton, you'd cheat a poor man out of his
+hard-earned money?" ejaculated Jones, who, in spite of his knowledge of
+his employer's character, could hardly believe his ears.
+
+"I never intended to give you such an enormous sum for the little you
+have done for me."
+
+"Didn't you promise it, sir?" demanded Jones, exasperated.
+
+"Not that I remember," answered Campbell, coolly. "I should have been a
+fool to promise so large a sum. I paid your expenses out to California
+and three hundred dollars. That, I take it, is pretty liberal pay for
+your services for a month."
+
+"I'll have justice if I live!" said Jones, furiously.
+
+He looked so threatening that Orton Campbell thought it might be best to
+placate him, even at the expense of a small extra sum. "Don't be a fool,
+Jones," he said. "You know very well that your demands are beyond all
+reason. I've treated you very liberally already, but I don't mind doing
+a little more. I'll go so far as to give you fifty dollars down, and a
+further sum of one hundred dollars on my wedding-day if I marry Florence
+Douglas, if you'll be content with that."
+
+"I won't be content with it, Orton Campbell," said Jones, indignantly;
+"I won't be content with anything less than the full sum you promised
+me. You'd better pay me at once, or you may see trouble."
+
+Orton Campbell should have known that it was dangerous to trifle with a
+man so thoroughly roused as Jones was, but his love of money and dislike
+to part with it overcame every other consideration, and he said, "You've
+refused my offer, and I have done with you. You needn't come near me
+again."
+
+"Do you mean this?" asked Jones, slowly.
+
+"Of course I do. You have served my purpose, and been paid. I have
+offered you more, and you have refused it. That ends everything."
+
+"I understand you now, Orton Campbell."
+
+"_Mr._ Campbell, if you please," interrupted Campbell, haughtily.
+
+"_Mr._ Campbell, then; and I am sorry I didn't know you better before,
+but it isn't too late yet."
+
+"That's enough: you can go."
+
+As Jones walked away Campbell asked himself, "What is the fellow going
+to do, I wonder? I suppose he will try to annoy me. Never mind: I have
+saved nine hundred dollars. That will more than cover all the damage he
+can do me."
+
+It was about the same hour that a party of three, dusty and shabby,
+entered San Francisco, and made their way to a respectable but not
+prominent hotel.
+
+"We look like three tramps, Ben," said Bradley. "Anywhere but in San
+Francisco I don't believe we could get lodged in any respectable hotel,
+but they'll know at once that we are from the mines, and may have a good
+store of gold-dust in spite of our looks."
+
+"If my friends at home could see me now," said Ben, laughingly, "they
+wouldn't think I had found my trip to California profitable. It would
+give my friend Sam Sturgis a good deal of pleasure to think that I was a
+penniless adventurer."
+
+"He might be disappointed when he heard that you were worth not far from
+a thousand dollars, Ben."
+
+"He certainly would be. On the other hand, Uncle Job would be delighted.
+I wish I could walk into his little cottage and tell him all about it."
+
+"When you go home, Ben, you must have more money to carry than you have
+now. A thousand dollars are all very well, but they are not quite
+enough to start business on."
+
+"A year ago I should have felt immensely rich on a thousand dollars,"
+said Ben, thoughtfully.
+
+"No doubt; but you are young enough to wait a little longer. After our
+friend Dewey has seen his young lady and arranged matters we'll dust
+back to our friends, the miners who came near giving us a ticket to the
+next world, and see whether fortune won't favor us a little more."
+
+"Agreed!" said Ben; "I shall be ready.--Shall you call on Miss Douglas
+this evening, Mr. Dewey?" asked Ben.
+
+"Yes," answered Dewey. "I cannot bear to feel that I am in the same city
+and refrain from seeing her."
+
+"Will she know you in your present rig?" suggested Bradley.
+
+"I shall lose no time in buying a new outfit," said Dewey. "There must
+be shops where all articles of dress can be obtained ready-made."
+
+"I was afraid you were going as you are," said Bradley. "Of course she'd
+be glad to see you, but she might be sensitive about her friends; and
+that wouldn't be agreeable to you, I'm thinkin'."
+
+"I thank you for your kind suggestion, my good friend," said Dewey; "no
+doubt you are right."
+
+Richard Dewey swallowed a hasty supper, and then sought the clothing
+shops, where he had no difficulty in procuring a ready-made outfit. So
+many persons came from the mines in his condition, desiring similar
+accommodation, that he was not required to go far to secure what he
+wanted.
+
+Then, having obtained from Ben the proper directions, he took his way to
+the house of Mrs. Armstrong, which he reached about eight o'clock.
+
+"Can I see Miss Florence Douglas?" he asked.
+
+Mrs. Armstrong, hearing the request, came herself to the door. She was
+feeling anxious about the prolonged absence of her young friend.
+
+"May I ask your name, sir?" she inquired.
+
+"Richard Dewey."
+
+"'Richard Dewey'?" repeated Mrs. Armstrong, in amazement. "Why, I
+thought you were sick in bed!"
+
+"What made you think so?" asked Dewey, in equal amazement.
+
+"Your own note. Miss Douglas, on receiving it, went away at once with
+the messenger, and has not returned."
+
+"I have sent no note, and no messenger has come from me. I don't
+understand you," said Richard Dewey, bewildered.
+
+It was soon explained, and the bitter disappointment of Dewey may well
+be imagined. This feeling was mingled with one of apprehension for the
+personal safety of the young lady.
+
+"This is indeed alarming," he ejaculated. "Who can have planned such an
+outrage?"
+
+"I will tell you, sir," said a voice.
+
+Turning quickly, Richard Dewey's glance rested upon Jones.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+JONES CHECKMATES ORTON CAMPBELL.
+
+
+"Who are you?" inquired Richard Dewey, not favorably impressed by the
+appearance of the man who addressed him.
+
+"You wouldn't know if I should tell you," said Jones; "so I may as well
+say that I came out to San Francisco with Orton Campbell."
+
+"Orton Campbell in the city?" exclaimed Dewey, apprehensively. "Had he
+anything to do with the disappearance of Miss Douglas?"
+
+"Everything, sir; but I can't tell you about it in the street. I will go
+with you to your hotel."
+
+"Tell me on the way," said Richard Dewey. "First, has any harm befallen
+Florence--Miss Douglas?"
+
+"None as yet."
+
+"Is any threatened?"
+
+"The loss of her liberty; but I will help you to thwart Orton Campbell."
+
+Jones told the story, which need not be repeated here, as it is already
+known to the reader. He had difficulty in restraining Mr. Dewey from
+starting out instantly to the rescue of the young lady, but on his
+representing that she was safe, and that it would be soon enough to go
+out in the morning, Richard Dewey yielded.
+
+A little before eight o'clock, Jones, driving the same carriage in which
+he had conveyed Florence to her place of captivity, halted in front of
+Mrs. Bradshaw's dwelling.
+
+"Remain in the carriage, Mr. Dewey," he said, "and I will see if I can't
+secure the young lady without any fuss."
+
+"Won't it be better for me to accompany you?"
+
+"I think not, sir. Mrs. Bradshaw knows I am the one who brought Miss
+Douglas here, and she will think it is all right. Stay!" he continued,
+with a sudden thought. "I have an idea. Mr. Campbell told Mrs. Bradshaw
+that the young lady was insane. I will make her think that you are the
+doctor from the asylum come to take Miss Douglas back with you."
+
+"Did Orton Campbell really intend such an outrage?" asked Richard Dewey,
+in a tone of horror.
+
+"Yes, if Miss Douglas wouldn't consent to marry him."
+
+"Go, then, and lose no time."
+
+Jones knocked at the door, which was opened by Mrs. Bradshaw in person.
+She naturally regarded Jones with surprise, not anticipating so early a
+call.
+
+"How is Miss Douglas?" he asked.
+
+"Very contrary," answered the landlady. "I can't get her to eat. It's my
+belief she means to starve herself."
+
+"It's a crazy freak," said Jones, shrugging his shoulders. "Well, I've
+come to take her away."
+
+"To take her away--so soon?" asked Mrs. Bradshaw, in surprise.
+
+"Yes, Mr. Orton thought it best."
+
+"Is he with you?"
+
+"No."
+
+"I think I see some one in the carriage."
+
+"To be sure. It's the mad doctor from the asylum. Don't let Miss Douglas
+know it," continued Jones, lowering his voice, "or she wouldn't consent
+to go with us."
+
+"I see," answered the landlady, nodding. "Do you want to go up now?"
+
+"Yes; let me see her alone, so that I can tell her a story which will
+quiet her suspicions."
+
+"Mr. Campbell hasn't paid me all he promised yet," said Mrs. Bradshaw,
+rather uneasily.
+
+"Oh, that's all right," said Jones. "He never forgets his promise--and
+seldom keeps it," he said to himself.
+
+Florence was sitting on the lounge in her room in rather a despondent
+state of mind when the door opened, and she looked up, expecting to see
+Orton Campbell.
+
+Jones closed the door behind him, and then, putting his hand over his
+lips, said, "Miss Douglas, I bring you good news."
+
+"Are you not the man who brought me out here yesterday?"
+
+"The same one."
+
+"Then how have you the face to show yourself in my presence?"
+
+"Because I am come to free you from your imprisonment."
+
+Florence started to her feet in some excitement. "If this were true!"
+she exclaimed. "But no; you are an agent of Orton Campbell, and this is
+some new trick of his."
+
+"I was an agent of Orton Campbell, but he deceived me, and I am his
+enemy."
+
+"Is he with you?" asked Florence, suspiciously.
+
+"No; but in the carriage outside is one whom you will be glad to meet."
+
+"Who is it?"
+
+"Richard Dewey."
+
+"You brought me a note from him which he never wrote. How do you expect
+me to believe you now?"
+
+"If he is not there, don't get into the carriage. Not a word to Mrs.
+Bradshaw. She is in the employ of Mr. Campbell, who represented you as
+insane, and I told her that Mr. Dewey, whom I did not dare to bring in,
+was a doctor from the insane asylum."
+
+"Are you sure you are not deceiving me?" said Florence, earnestly.
+
+"I am on the square, miss, but you can easily convince yourself by
+coming down stairs. If you prefer to remain here till nine o'clock, when
+Orton Campbell will be here, you can do so."
+
+"No, no! anything better than that!"
+
+Mrs. Bradshaw watched the exit of her guest with a peculiar look. "She
+little knows where she's going," thought the woman. "Well, if she's
+crazy, it's the best place for her."
+
+As may easily be imagined, there was scant leave-taking. Florence was
+eager to leave this shabby cabin, where she had passed a night of
+anxious solicitude.
+
+She approached the carriage, and Jones opened the door. She looked in,
+and saw Dewey, who said in a low voice, "Get in at once, Florence, but
+keep silent till we are on our way."
+
+An expression of joy came over her face as she saw this most convincing
+proof of her driver's good faith. He mounted the box and drove rapidly
+off.
+
+On their way back to San Francisco the two who had been so long
+separated had ample time to compare notes and form plans for the future.
+
+"Florence," said Richard Dewey, "after this treachery of Orton Campbell
+there is but one way of safety for you."
+
+"And what is that?"
+
+"Let me become your legal protector, and at once. When we are married
+your guardian will be powerless. He will have me to deal with then, not
+a defenceless girl."
+
+"But, Richard, this seems so sudden!"
+
+"It ought not to, Florence. Have we not waited for each other long
+enough? Have we not been separated long enough? I am not much richer
+than when I left you--not so rich," he added, smiling, "as your other
+suitor, Orton Campbell."
+
+"I will marry you if only to get rid of him, Richard," said Florence,
+impetuously.
+
+"I won't quarrel with your motives, since you consent."
+
+So it happened that on their arrival in San Francisco they directed
+Jones to drive to the house of a clergyman, and were speedily united in
+marriage, the clergyman's wife and daughter being witnesses.
+Circumstances compelled them to dispense with the usual "cards and
+cake."
+
+At nine o'clock, Orton Campbell, secure of his prey, drove up to Mrs.
+Bradshaw's door and leisurely descended.
+
+"Well, and how is Miss Douglas this morning?" he asked of the astonished
+landlady.
+
+"How is she? She's gone."
+
+"What!" ejaculated Orton, furiously; "you have dared to let her escape?"
+
+"You sent for her yourself. She went away with the mad doctor."
+
+"'The mad doctor'? I don't know anything about any mad doctor. Woman,
+you are deceiving me."
+
+"Don't call me _woman_!" said Mrs. Bradshaw, offensively, putting her
+arms akimbo. "I'm no more a woman than you are."
+
+"Then you'd better dress differently," sneered Campbell. "Tell me what
+all this means."
+
+"The man that drove the lady out here yesterday came here more than an
+hour ago and said you had sent for her. He said there was a doctor in
+the carriage who would take her to the asylum. That corresponded with
+what you told me, and I let her go."
+
+"That scoundrel Jones!" exclaimed Orton Campbell. "So this is his
+revenge? I must go back to the city at once and circumvent him if I
+can."
+
+He was about to go when Mrs. Bradshaw said, "Before you go you'd better
+pay me what you promised."
+
+"I won't pay you a cent," said Campbell, angrily.
+
+"Jack!"
+
+The word spoken by the woman brought a rough-looking man to the
+carriage-door.
+
+"This man says he won't pay me a cent, Jack," said Mrs. Bradshaw.
+
+"You'd better reconsider that, stranger," said Jack, pulling out a
+revolver and fingering it significantly.
+
+"I owe her nothing," said Orton Campbell, surveying the revolver
+uneasily. "If she had kept the young lady here, it would have been
+different."
+
+"If there's a trick been played on you, my wife ain't goin' to suffer by
+it. She's earned the money, stranger, and I'll give you just two minutes
+to pay it over."
+
+Orton Campbell read something in the man's face that convinced him he
+was not to be trifled with. With many an inward groan he drew out one
+hundred dollars from his purse and handed it over.
+
+"That's all right, stranger," said Jack, coolly. "I thought you'd be
+reasonable. Short reckonings make long friends."
+
+With a muttered imprecation Orton Campbell sharply ordered his driver to
+turn the horses' heads toward San Francisco and make his way there as
+quickly as possible. His thoughts were by no means pleasant company. He
+had just been forced to pay out a considerable sum without value
+received, and was beginning to think the sum paid to Jones also money
+thrown away.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+A WEDDING RECEPTION.
+
+
+Orton Campbell cursed his folly in arousing the hostility of Jones. He
+concluded that the latter had released Florence in order to obtain a
+hold upon him, and would be ready to assist him again if satisfactorily
+paid. In that event all was not lost. It was necessary to see Jones as
+early as possible and make matters right with him.
+
+He was not quite clear as to where Jones could be found, but concluded
+that he had carried Florence back to her boarding-house. He therefore
+ordered his driver to proceed at once to the house of Mrs. Armstrong.
+
+He hastily descended from the carriage and rang the bell.
+
+It was answered by Mrs. Armstrong in person, who regarded him with no
+very friendly eye.
+
+Orton Campbell, knowing his own treachery, and conscious that it was
+also known to the lady before him, asked, in some embarrassment, "Is
+Miss Douglas here?"
+
+"No, sir."
+
+Orton Campbell looked surprised. "I--I thought she might be here," he
+stammered.
+
+"Were you the person who lured her from my house yesterday by a false
+letter?" demanded Mrs. Armstrong, sternly.
+
+"No," answered Campbell, unblushingly; "it was an agent of mine, who has
+deceived and betrayed me."
+
+"Then, you had nothing to do with the disappearance of the young lady?"
+
+"Certainly not," answered Orton Campbell, boldly. "I assure you it has
+given me great concern, and I have been riding hither and thither this
+morning in search of her."
+
+"Won't you come in, sir? Perhaps we may be able to throw some light on
+this mystery."
+
+"She believes me," thought Orton Campbell, congratulating himself on the
+effect of his duplicity.--"Certainly," he answered; "I shall be most
+happy to do so."
+
+He was ushered into the parlor, into which, five minutes later, entered
+Florence, Richard Dewey, and a gentleman of clerical appearance.
+
+"Miss Douglas!" exclaimed Orton Campbell, in astonishment.--"I thought
+you said," turning to Mrs. Armstrong, "that Miss Douglas was not here?"
+
+"I am not Miss Douglas," said Florence, quietly.
+
+"I don't understand you."
+
+"Perhaps I can explain the mystery," said Richard Dewey, coming forward.
+
+"I wish you would, if you can," said Orton Campbell, with a sneer.
+
+"This young lady is my wife."
+
+"Your wife? And who are you?"
+
+"Richard Dewey, at your service."
+
+Orton Campbell had never known Dewey well, and his life at the mines had
+so changed his appearance that it was not surprising he did not
+recognize him.
+
+"Is this true?" he asked, in visible dismay. "When were you married?"
+
+"Half an hour since, by this gentleman;" and Richard Dewey waved his
+hand in the direction of the clerical gentleman already referred to.
+
+"You have done a good stroke of business, sir," said Campbell, with a
+sneer and a look of baffled hatred. "The lady's fortune makes her a good
+match."
+
+"So you evidently thought, sir," answered Dewey. "Your unscrupulous
+methods have not succeeded, and I beg to warn you that the lady now has
+a protector who will punish any such persecution as that with which you
+have recently visited her."
+
+"You are quite mistaken. My agent--"
+
+"Only followed your instructions," said an unexpected voice, as Jones,
+who was within hearing, now entered from the adjoining room. "Mr. Orton,
+I have confessed all, so you needn't try to humbug this gentleman."
+
+"You are a scoundrel," said Campbell, wrathfully, excited by the
+appearance of the man who, in return for being cheated, had betrayed
+him.
+
+"Then there's a pair of us, Mr. Campbell," said he, coolly. "I admit
+that I behaved like a rascal, but I've tried to set matters right."
+
+"You can find your way back to New York as you can; I have done with
+you," said Campbell, hardly conscious that this very remark betrayed
+him.
+
+"Mr. Dewey has kindly offered to take me back with him," said Jones, not
+at all disturbed by this notice.
+
+"If you are going back by the next steamer, Mr. Campbell," said Richard
+Dewey, "I will thank you to apprise your father of his ward's marriage,
+and ask him to arrange for the surrender of her property at the proper
+time."
+
+"You may attend to your own messages, sir," said Orton, irritably. "I
+will have nothing to do with them."
+
+Without any further words he hurried out of the house, and drove at once
+to the office of the steamship company, where he secured passage by the
+earliest vessel eastward bound.
+
+That same evening Mr. and Mrs. Richard Dewey held an informal reception
+at their boarding-house.
+
+It was not largely attended, for Florence had made but few
+acquaintances during her stay in the city. Uncertain as her prospects
+were, she had thought it best to keep aloof from her friends, who might
+possibly make known her residence to her guardian. Among those present,
+however, were Richard Dewey's tried friends, Bradley and Ben Stanton.
+
+Bradley tried to excuse himself, on the ground that he was only a rough
+miner and not accustomed to society, but his objection was overruled
+both by Florence and her husband.
+
+"You are a true friend, Mr. Bradley," said Florence, gratefully, "and I
+should miss you more than any one else except my young friend and
+cousin, Ben."
+
+"Ben's different from what I am," said Bradley. "He ain't such a rough
+specimen."
+
+"I'm only a miner, like you," said Ben. "I am a country boy and not used
+to society, but I don't believe Cousin Ida will care for that."
+
+"Cousin Ida" was the name by which Ben had been instructed to call
+Florence when she came out to California under his escort.
+
+The upshot of it all was that both Bradley and Ben were present at the
+bride's reception, and were made so thoroughly at home by Mrs. Richard
+Dewey that neither felt in the least awkward.
+
+Two weeks later Richard Dewey and his wife sailed for New York, but Ben
+and Bradley remained behind.
+
+"Come with us, Ben," said Florence. "I don't like to leave you behind."
+
+"Thank you, Miss Florence--I mean Mrs. Dewey," said the boy--"but I am
+not ready to go yet."
+
+"Don't let the thought of money keep you here, Ben. I am rich, or I
+shall be in a few months, when my guardian surrenders his trust, and I
+will take care that you are well provided for."
+
+"Thank you again," said Ben; "but I've promised to go back to the mines.
+I've got a claim reserved for me, and so has Bradley. We'll go back now
+and try to gather a little more gold-dust."
+
+"But you'll let us see you in New York before long?"
+
+"Yes, I shall go home in a few months, even if I come back again later.
+I want to see Uncle Job and Cousin Jennie, and all my old friends, not
+forgetting Sam Sturgis," added Ben, smiling.
+
+"We must be content with that, I suppose," said the young lady. "I hope
+you will have good luck, but even if you don't, remember that you have
+two friends who will only be too glad to be of service to you.--Please
+consider, Mr. Bradley, that this is said to you also."
+
+"Thank you, ma'am," said Jake Bradley, awkwardly, for with all his good
+traits he was not quite at ease in the society of ladies.
+
+Ben and Bradley saw the young couple off on the steamer, and then
+prepared to go back to the mines.
+
+"It's made me feel kind of lonesome to part with Dick Dewey," said
+Bradley, thoughtfully. "He's a whole-souled feller, and he's 'struck it
+rich' in a wife."
+
+"That's so, Jake."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+THE NUGGET.
+
+
+Ben and Bradley made their way back to Golden Gulch by easy stages. They
+reached the Gulch about sunset, and were welcomed in such noisy style by
+the miners that it might almost be called an ovation.
+
+"We reckoned you'd come," said one of the leaders. "You look like you'd
+keep your promise."
+
+"I hope there ain't any hosses been stole since we went away," said
+Bradley, jocosely. "Ben and I ain't quite ready to hand in our checks."
+
+"We wouldn't hold you responsible if there had been," was the reply.
+
+"That makes me feel a little easier in mind," said Bradley. "It may be
+pleasant to hang from a branch with a noose round your neck, but I don't
+want to try it."
+
+The miners were just preparing to take their evening meal, and Ben and
+his friend were invited to share their hospitality. After supper pipes
+were produced, and Bradley was called upon to bring forth his budget of
+news. In the little mining-settlement, far from the great world, a man
+who could give the latest news from the city or produce a late paper
+from any of the Eastern cities was hailed as a public benefactor.
+
+So it was at an unusually late hour that our friends and the miners
+retired to rest.
+
+The next morning the two new-comers were shown the claims which had been
+set aside for them. They were eligibly located, and already had a
+commercial value, but were bestowed out of good-will, without a cent of
+compensation.
+
+Bradley and Ben got to work at once. They had had their vacation, and
+were ready to settle down to business. They were stimulated to effort by
+the success of some of their fellow miners. Ben's next neighbor had
+already gathered nearly three thousand dollars' worth of gold-dust, and
+it was quite within the limits of probability that our young hero might
+be as successful.
+
+"If I fail it won't be for lack of trying," thought Ben.
+
+Three thousand dollars, in addition to the thousand he already had,
+would make him feel rich. Some of my readers, who have been luxuriously
+reared, will be surprised to hear this. But Ben had always been used to
+small things. He had been brought up in a small country town, where a
+dollar counts for a good deal more than it does in the city, and where a
+man possessing ten thousand dollars is thought to be independently rich.
+His uncle Job, who was thrifty and industrious, and generally, through
+careful economy, had a little money in the savings bank, was probably
+worth, at the outside, fifteen hundred dollars.
+
+No wonder, then, that the prospect of being worth four thousand dollars
+dazzled our young hero and stimulated him to unwonted effort.
+
+Neither of our two friends got on fast. They averaged perhaps fifty
+dollars a week each, but out of this their expenses had to be paid, and
+these, on account of the high price of all articles of necessity, were
+rather heavy. Still, the end of each week found both richer, and they
+were contented.
+
+It was the aim of every miner to "strike it rich." Each had a dream of
+some day cutting a rich vein or finding a nugget of extraordinary size
+which should compress into one day the profits of a year or two of
+ordinary success. But such lucky finds were not numerous. As in ordinary
+life, the large prizes are rare, and average success is the rule. But
+the general hope was kept up by occasional lucky strokes.
+
+"Ben," said Bradley, one day in excitement, returning from a visit to
+the claims half a mile distant on the other side of a hilly ridge, "I've
+got great news."
+
+"What is it, Jake?"
+
+"Perkins has just found a nugget that must contain five hundred dollars'
+worth of gold."
+
+"You don't say so, Jake?"
+
+"Fact; I just saw it."
+
+"I hope there's more of them 'round here."
+
+"So do I. That's a find worth having."
+
+The discovery made a sensation at Golden Gulch. It excited the hope of
+all, and stimulated labor. What had fallen to Perkins might chance to
+any one of his comrades.
+
+So, as the miners sat round their roaring fire--for it was getting
+chilly in the evening--one and another discussed the interesting
+question, "What would I do if I could find a nugget?" Various, of
+course, were the answers. One would go home and start a dry-goods store
+(he had been a dry-goods clerk in Philadelphia); another would buy the
+old Stuart place and get married; another would pay off a mortgage on
+the old homestead, and so on.
+
+"What would you do, Ben?" asked Bradley.
+
+"I would go home by the next steamer, and buy Uncle Job the three-acre
+lot he has been wanting so long, and buy new dresses for aunt and
+Jennie. But it isn't much use forming plans till the nugget is found."
+
+"That's so, Ben; but you are as likely to find it as the next man."
+
+"I will hope for it, at any rate."
+
+Though Ben's prospects were excellent, and he had met with unusual
+success, his thoughts often wandered back to the quiet village where
+the years of his boyhood had been chiefly passed. From time to time he
+was disturbed by the thought that something might have happened to his
+uncle's family, of whom he had heard little or nothing since he went
+away. He afterward learned that letters had been sent which he had not
+received. He was not exactly homesick, but he felt keenly the lack of
+news from home.
+
+In spite of this, however, he worked on with energy and industry. He
+felt that every dollar he earned brought nearer the day when he would
+feel justified in turning his back upon the gold-fields of California
+and wending his homeward way to Hampton.
+
+Meanwhile, Ben did not neglect to do what he could for the general
+entertainment. It has already been mentioned that he could sing very
+creditably, and his talent was very often called into requisition in the
+evening. Ben was obliging, and, finding he could give pleasure, he
+generally complied with the request of the miners and rehearsed such
+songs as he knew, so that he was considered a decided acquisition by
+the little company, and his popularity was unbounded.
+
+"I've been thinkin', Ben," said Bradley, one Sunday when they were
+taking a walk together, "that if there was any offices to be filled
+you'd stand a good show of bein' elected."
+
+"What makes you think so, Jake?"
+
+"You're the most popular man in the camp--leastways, boy."
+
+"I can easily believe that, Jake, as I am the only boy."
+
+"Well, there's no one ahead of you, man or boy."
+
+"I am glad if that is so," said Ben, modestly. "It is chiefly because I
+am a boy."
+
+"Boys are not always popular. It depends a good deal on the kind of
+boy."
+
+So the reader will get some idea of Ben's life at the mines and the
+estimation in which he was held by his comrades. It was not very
+exciting nor very eventful, but there was to be a change.
+
+One day his pick struck something hard. It might be a rock which would
+need to be removed. He dug round it patiently, but when he wished to
+lift it after it was loosened, he found it necessary to summon Bradley
+to his assistance.
+
+"Why, Ben!" exclaimed Bradley, in excitement, "this isn't a rock; it is
+a nugget, and a bouncer."
+
+"'A nugget'!" repeated Ben, incredulously.
+
+"Yes; look here!" and Bradley pointed out the indubitable signs of its
+value. "Yes, Ben, your fortune has come at last."
+
+"How much is it worth?" demanded Ben, almost breathless with excitement
+and exhilaration.
+
+"How much? Three thousand dollars at least."
+
+"Then I can go home."
+
+"Yes, Ben, you're got your pile."
+
+It may as well be stated here that Bradley's guess was not far out of
+the way. The nugget, when it reached San Francisco, was found to amount
+to three thousand seven hundred dollars.
+
+To the credit of the miners of Golden Gulch, it must be said that all
+rejoiced in Ben's success. No one's good luck would have excited so
+little envy or jealousy as that of the boy who had worked by their side
+for months, and done so much by his good-humor and musical gifts to
+cheer up and entertain them. When he was ready to start for the city on
+his homeward journey all joined in wishing him a pleasant journey and
+the best of luck in the years to come.
+
+Ben was not obliged to travel alone. Bradley decided not only to
+accompany him to San Francisco, but to sail to New York in his company.
+
+"I've never seen York," he said, "and I never shall see it if I don't go
+now. So, if you don't mind, Ben, I'll go along with you."
+
+"Mind, Jake? There's nothing I shall like better."
+
+While they are on the steamer homeward bound events have transpired in
+Ben's old home which require to be noted.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+JOB STANTON'S MISTAKE.
+
+
+There had not been many changes in the little town of Hampton since Ben
+left it. It was one of those quiet New England villages where life moves
+slowly, and a death or a marriage is an event.
+
+Uncle Job still lived in his plain little cottage with his wife and
+daughter, and still plied his humble task as the village cobbler,
+essaying sometimes to make shoes when there were none to be repaired.
+There was a plat of land belonging to his house rather more than an acre
+in extent, but land was cheap in Hampton, and it is doubtful whether
+both house and lot would have brought, if thrown into the market, over
+one thousand dollars. Uncle Job had at one time about a hundred dollars
+in the savings bank in a neighboring town--a fund to draw from in an
+emergency--and this money with his plain home constituted his entire
+wealth.
+
+Eleven hundred dollars all told! It was not a very brilliant result for
+forty years' labor, beginning with the days of his boyhood; but Job
+Stanton was not ambitious, and he actually felt well-to-do. He earned
+enough to supply the simple wants of his family, and had something over,
+and this satisfied him.
+
+But one day a strong temptation came to Job Stanton, and he yielded to
+it.
+
+A trader came riding over from a neighboring town and called on Uncle
+Job. The good man thought he had come to order a new pair of shoes, and
+felt flattered that such a dashing man should have gone so far out of
+his way to patronize him.
+
+"I'm glad to see you, Mr. Richmond," he said. "Won't you set down?"
+
+He should have said _sit_, but Job Stanton's educational advantages had
+been very limited.
+
+"I don't care if I do. Snug place you've got here, Mr. Stanton."
+
+"It's very plain and humble, but it's home, and I set by it," answered
+Job, who was busily engaged in tapping a shoe belonging to Eliphalet
+Nourza, a farm-laborer.
+
+"I've come over to see you on a little business, Mr. Stanton," said the
+trader, affably.
+
+"Jest so!" returned Uncle Job cheerfully, glancing over his spectacles
+at the trader's shoes to see if they looked much worn. "Want a pair of
+new shoes, I reckon?"
+
+"I shall need a new pair soon," said Richmond, "but that isn't exactly
+what I meant."
+
+It flashed across Job Stanton's mind that his visitor might be going to
+make him an offer for the old place, but he felt that he could not bear
+to part with it. He had lived there ever since he was married,
+thirty-five years ago, and there Jennie, the child of his old age, had
+been born.
+
+But the trader's next sentence relieved him of this thought.
+
+"The fact is, Uncle Job," proceeded the trader, adopting the title by
+which the shoemaker was generally known in Hampton, "I've got a favor to
+ask of you."
+
+"'A favor to ask of me'?" repeated Job, looking up with some surprise at
+the well-dressed merchant, who seemed by his presence to honor the
+homely little shop.
+
+"Yes," continued Richmond, with gravity; "I want you to indorse my note
+for five hundred dollars."
+
+"What made you come to me?" asked Job Stanton in surprise. "I am not a
+capitalist; I am a poor man."
+
+"Oh, well, you're good for five hundred dollars."
+
+"Yes," answered Job with some complacency; "my place here is worth twice
+that, let alone the money I've got in the savings bank."
+
+"Of course it is."
+
+"Still, I don't want to run no risk. You'd better go to some moneyed
+man--like Major Sturgis, for instance."
+
+"Why, the fact is, Uncle Job, it's the major that lets me have the money
+on my note, but he stipulated that I should have an indorser, and he
+particularly mentioned you."
+
+"That's cur'us!" said Job. "Why should he think of me?"
+
+"Oh, he knew you were a reliable man."
+
+"How does it happen that you need money?" asked Job, bluntly. "Isn't
+your business good?"
+
+"That's just it," said Richmond, glibly. "It's so good that I've got to
+extend my stock, and that takes money. I'm turning money over all the
+time, and it won't be long before I am able to retire."
+
+"I'm glad of that, but I don't quite understand, if that's so, why
+you're short of funds."
+
+"It's clear you are not a business-man," said Richmond, laughing, "but I
+think I can explain to you how it is."
+
+He did explain, and the explanation seemed very plausible, yet Job
+Stanton, who was a cautious man, hesitated.
+
+This brought the trader to his closing argument: "You mustn't think,
+Uncle Job, that I expect this service for nothing. I am ready to pay you
+ten dollars for the accommodation, and to order a pair of shoes at your
+own price."
+
+"That's handsome!" said Job; "and all I've got to do is to sign my
+name?"
+
+"Just so. It's a mere formality. I shall have the money to pay the note
+twice over before it comes due."
+
+"Then I wonder the major wants an indorser."
+
+"Oh, it's his invariable custom. 'I know it isn't necessary, Mr.
+Richmond,' he told me, 'but it's my rule, and I won't break over it,
+even in your case. If you will get Job Stanton to indorse for you, it
+will be perfectly satisfactory. I know he is a poor man, but then it's
+only a form.'"
+
+"Well, I don't know," said Job, doubtfully. "If Ben was here I would ask
+him."
+
+"You mean your nephew, don't you?"
+
+"Yes, the boy that went to California."
+
+"I'm glad you mentioned him. As soon as he gets back send him to me and
+I'll give him a place in my store. I've heard he's very smart."
+
+"So he is," said Job, "and I'd like to have him with you, so that he
+could come to see us once in a while. There ain't no openin' in
+Hampton."
+
+"Of course not."
+
+"And you'll give Ben a place when he gets home?"
+
+"Certainly; that is, if you indorse my note. I am ready to pay you the
+ten dollars down."
+
+He drew a crisp bank-note for ten dollars from his pocket, and Job
+Stanton yielded, for it was a great deal of money to him. I think,
+however, that he was more influenced by the prospect of obtaining a good
+place for Ben that would keep him from wandering farther away from home.
+If he had been shrewder, it would have occurred to him that a prosperous
+business-man, such as Richmond claimed to be, was unusually anxious for
+a small accommodation. However, to him five hundred dollars represented
+a large sum, and it didn't seem at all strange.
+
+So Uncle Job took off his leather apron, ushered his visitor into the
+sitting-room, and sitting down at the table indorsed the note.
+
+"Thank you," said Richmond. "Here is the ten."
+
+"I don't know as I ought to ask you so much," said Job, with
+conscientious scruples.
+
+"Oh, that's all right. Now, I'll go into the shop, and you may take my
+measure for a pair of shoes."
+
+"This has been a lucky day for me," thought Job Stanton. "I've got ten
+dollars for writing my name, and it isn't often I earn as much as that
+in a week."
+
+The trader seemed equally pleased, and the two parted in mutual good
+spirits.
+
+The note was for three months, or ninety days, and Job Stanton thought
+no more about it. Why should he? Richmond had expressly told him that it
+was a mere form, and he supposed that this was the case. The ten dollars
+went to buy new dresses--not very expensive, of course--for his wife and
+Jennie, and that seemed to be the end of it.
+
+But Job was destined to be undeceived, and that very rudely.
+
+One day he was surprised by a call from his dignified fellow-townsman,
+Major Sturgis.
+
+"Good-morning, Mr. Stanton," said the major, condescendingly.
+
+"Good-morning, major. I hope your family are quite well."
+
+"Quite well, I thank you."
+
+"What's he come about?" thought Job, wonderingly.
+
+"You indorsed a note for Richmond, the dry-goods man, three months
+since."
+
+"So I did. Is it really three months?"
+
+"Close upon it, Mr. Stanton. I regret to say that I shall be obliged to
+call upon you to pay it."
+
+"Me! to pay it!" ejaculated Uncle Job, thunderstruck. "Why, I only
+indorsed it."
+
+"Precisely. That means that you are to pay it if Richmond doesn't."
+
+"But he will pay it," said the poor shoemaker, eagerly. "He said it was
+only a matter of form."
+
+"Then he deceived you. I have just received a note from him telling me
+to look to you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+THE HOUSE IS MORTGAGED.
+
+
+Job Stanton would not have been more utterly overwhelmed if he had seen
+his treasured home reduced to ashes before his eyes. That he should be
+responsible for a debt of five hundred dollars seemed to him almost
+incredible. The trader's representation that indorsing the note was only
+a matter of form he had accepted as strictly true.
+
+"Well, what are you going to do about it?" asked the major, impatiently.
+
+"'Goin' to do about it'?" ejaculated Job.
+
+"Certainly. When a man indorses a note he knows that he may be called
+upon to pay, and of course has some plan for doing it."
+
+"I don't know what to do," said the poor shoemaker, sadly. "I can't pay
+the note."
+
+"Humph! There seems to be only one thing to do, then."
+
+"What is it?"
+
+"You must sell or mortgage your place."
+
+"What! sell or mortgage my house? I can't do that, Major Sturgis."
+
+"Very well. I won't insist on it if you can pay the note in any other
+way."
+
+"Heaven knows I can't."
+
+"Then, Mr. Stanton," said the major, sharply, "it's time to speak
+plainly. Unless you do as I suggest, I shall attach your property and
+compel you to raise the money in the way I indicate."
+
+Job Stanton was mortally afraid of legal proceedings, and after a while
+he acceded to the major's proposal, which was himself to accept a
+mortgage for the sum of five hundred dollars secured upon the place. His
+wife, who had to be told, wept bitterly, for it seemed to her as if they
+were parting with their main reliance. But Major Sturgis carried his
+point, and walked off triumphant.
+
+And now for the major's motive, for he had one, and he had artfully made
+use of Richmond to forward his plan: He was desirous of getting
+possession of the poor shoemaker's house and land, having in view the
+purchase of the lot adjoining. Then he would move the house off, throw
+down the fence between the two lots, build a nice dwelling, and rent it
+to a city friend who wished to spend his summers in Hampton. He knew
+very well that Job Stanton wouldn't listen to a proposition for selling
+his house, and he therefore tried to accomplish by stratagem what he
+could not fairly.
+
+"Pa, you are looking in good spirits," said Sam Sturgis when his father
+came home.
+
+"I don't feel so," said the major, hypocritically. "I have had to do a
+very disagreeable thing this morning."
+
+"What was it?" Sam asked, his curiosity being excited.
+
+"Mr. Richmond the trader owed me a note for five hundred dollars,
+indorsed by Job Stanton, and as he did not pay it, I had to call on
+Stanton."
+
+"He couldn't pay--he's too poor," said Sam.
+
+"Not in money, but he owns his place. I have accepted a mortgage for six
+months' time on his house and lot."
+
+"Suppose he doesn't pay when the time comes?"
+
+"I am afraid I shall have to foreclose the mortgage."
+
+"And he'll have to leave, won't he?"
+
+"Unless he can raise the money some other way."
+
+"There isn't any other way, is there?"
+
+"Richmond might hand over the money by that time."
+
+"Do you think he will?"
+
+"He ought to, but I don't think there is much chance of it."
+
+"Ben will be rather astonished when he comes home and finds his uncle
+has lost his place."
+
+"Yes, I suppose he will."
+
+"I sha'n't be sorry for him. He puts on a good many airs, considering
+how poor he is. I wish I knew how he is getting along in California."
+
+"He may get a living there, but that is about all," said the major. "I
+shouldn't be at all surprised if his uncle came to me for money to get
+him home."
+
+"You wouldn't let him have it, would you, pa?"
+
+"I might," answered Major Sturgis, "if he would surrender the place to
+me without putting me to inconvenience."
+
+"Would you take Ben for my servant, pa, in that case?"
+
+"Why do you want him for a servant?"
+
+"I want to humble his pride," answered Sam, with a gleam of something
+like hatred in his eyes.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+THE BLOW ABOUT TO FALL
+
+
+All this happened soon after Ben went away. His uncle did not write him
+of it, for he knew it would trouble the boy, and it could do no good.
+"No, wife," he said; "Ben will have a hard row of his own to hoe. He
+mustn't have any part nor lot in our troubles."
+
+"It's very hard, Job, at our time of life," said Mrs. Stanton,
+despondently.
+
+"So it is, wife, but it may turn out for the best, after all. I haven't
+given up hope that Mr. Richmond will pay the sum, so that I can take up
+the mortgage. I'm goin' to see him about it to-morrow."
+
+Uncle Job left his work the next day, and walked five miles to the store
+of the man who had brought this calamity upon him.
+
+"I've come to see you, Mr. Richmond," he said, wiping his forehead with
+his red cotton handkerchief, "about that money I've had to pay."
+
+"Oh yes," said Richmond, with his usual suavity. "I'm very sorry it
+happened so."
+
+"It seems to me you didn't treat me just right," said poor Job.
+
+"Such things will happen, you know, Mr. Stanton."
+
+"But you said it was only a matter of form signin' the note?"
+
+"Of course I so regarded it. I could have sworn I should be ready to pay
+when the note became due. You see, there was money owing to me that I
+couldn't collect."
+
+"Didn't you know that was likely to happen when you tempted me to
+indorse the note?"
+
+"It wasn't likely to happen, but it was possible. My plans miscarried,
+as any man's are liable to. If you were more used to business, Uncle
+Job, you'd see that I hadn't acted wrong in the matter."
+
+"I don't understand the ways of business men, but I know you've done me
+a grievous wrong, John Richmond," said Job Stanton, gravely. "I've come
+to ask if you can pay me back a part of that money."
+
+"Well, I can't do it this morning. I've got two payments to make. You
+don't look at it in the right light, Uncle Job."
+
+"I want my money," said the old man. "When can you give it to me?"
+
+"Since you push me so hard, I can only say I don't know," said Richmond,
+dropping his soft tones and looking angry.
+
+"Is that all the satisfaction you are goin' to give me? Don't you ever
+mean to pay me that money you've made me pay out on your account,
+mortgaging my house and risking my home?"
+
+"Of course I shall pay you some time, but I can't say exactly when,"
+said the trader, brusquely.
+
+"Will you sign a note for the money at three months or six months, John
+Richmond?"
+
+"No, I won't. You'll have to wait, Uncle Job, till I get ready to pay
+you; that's all about it. I may be ready next week, or it may not be
+till next month. A business-man can't always foresee how he'll be
+situated at any definite time."
+
+With this poor consolation Job Stanton had to rest content. He looked
+around him and saw every evidence of prosperity. Several customers were
+in the store, and the two clerks seemed to have as much as they could
+do. He saw money paid over for purchases in considerable amounts, and he
+felt that a part of it might be spared as a partial payment to him; but
+it was of no avail, and he turned sadly away.
+
+The next week passed, and the next month passed, and Job Stanton waited
+vainly for a payment on account from John Richmond. He didn't like to
+judge the trader harshly, but it did seem as if he was quite indifferent
+in the matter. Another month passed, and Job made another visit to the
+store of his prosperous debtor. Richmond wasted few words on him.
+
+"Uncle Job," he said, "it's no use your coming over here. I'll send you
+the money when I can spare it."
+
+Finally, six months passed, the mortgage became due, and Job received a
+notice from Major Sturgis that he wanted his money.
+
+"If you can't raise it," said the major, "I am willing to cancel the
+note, give you two hundred and fifty dollars, and take a deed of the
+place."
+
+"That is only allowing seven hundred and fifty dollars for it," said
+poor Job.
+
+"It's all it is worth," said the rich man, coldly. "If you prefer to put
+it up at auction, I am willing, but you may in that case get less. I'll
+give you three days to decide."
+
+There was great sorrow in Job Stanton's house that evening. Six months
+before he had considered himself well-to-do. Now, at the age of sixty,
+poverty and destitution stared him in the face.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+CONCLUSION.
+
+
+"Do you think we shall have to give up the house, Job?" asked Mrs.
+Stanton, anxiously.
+
+"I see no other way," said Job, mournfully. "I can't raise five hundred
+dollars anywhere."
+
+"Have you been to Deacon Pitkin?"
+
+"Yes, but the deacon says he's just put out what money he had, and can't
+accommodate me."
+
+"It's hard!" said Mrs. Stanton, with sad brevity.
+
+"Yes, it is hard!" assented Job. "I did hope the Lord would show us a
+way of deliverance, but it seems likely that the sorrow must come upon
+us."
+
+"How meanly Major Sturgis and that man Richmond have behaved! I can't
+help feeling that they will be come up with sooner or later," said Mrs.
+Stanton, who, mild as she generally was, could not help feeling
+exasperated.
+
+"I do think they've been inconsiderate," Job admitted.
+
+"'Inconsiderate'! Their conduct has been contemptible. The major don't
+need the money. He could just as well let us stay here."
+
+While this conversation was going on Ben and his friend Bradley were
+approaching the little cottage.
+
+Full of joyful memories, Ben lifted the latch and walked into the
+presence of his uncle and aunt. Nothing but his return could have chased
+the mournful expression from their faces.
+
+"Why, it's Ben come back!" exclaimed his aunt, joyfully.
+
+"Well, I declare, so it is!" answered Job Stanton, hurrying forward and
+grasping the hand of his boy after his aunt had embraced him.
+
+"How you've grown, Ben!" said his aunt, admiringly.
+
+"Yes, Aunt Clarissa, I've grown four inches," said Ben, proudly. "But
+I've brought a friend with me.--Jake, come in."
+
+And then Bradley was introduced to Job and his wife, and was cordially
+welcomed by both.
+
+"You're lucky to come while we've got a home to welcome you to," said
+Job, his face again saddening.
+
+"Why, Uncle Job, you're not thinking of selling the house, are you?"
+
+Then the whole story came out.
+
+Ben listened attentively, and when his uncle had finished he said, "That
+Richmond is a first-class rascal."
+
+"And I'd like to give him a first-class kick," said Bradley,
+indignantly.
+
+"That wouldn't mend matters," said Job, shaking his head. "It wouldn't
+pay off the mortgage."
+
+"You say the mortgage amounts to five hundred dollars, Uncle Job?"
+
+"Yes. Then there's six months' interest, at six per cent., makes fifteen
+dollars more."
+
+"When do you expect Major Sturgis to call?"
+
+"This morning. It's almost time for him."
+
+"I met Sam on my way here," said Ben. "He told me I'd come just in the
+nick of time. I didn't know what he meant, but I know now."
+
+"The major offers to buy the house, paying me two hundred and fifty
+dollars over and above the note."
+
+"Why, that's robbery!" said Ben, indignantly.
+
+"So it is, Ben; but what can I do?"
+
+"I think," said Ben, smiling, "you'd better borrow five hundred and
+fifteen dollars of your rich nephew."
+
+"What do you mean, Ben?" asked Job, in surprise.
+
+"I mean this, Uncle Job--that I'll lend you the money to pay up this
+shark."
+
+"You don't mean to say you've got money enough?" ejaculated Uncle Job.
+
+"Yes, I do, uncle, and a little over. I'll prove it to you."
+
+He produced a wallet, from which he drew out five one-hundred-dollar
+bills and three fives.
+
+"Take them, uncle, and ask me questions afterward, for I see through the
+window that the major is coming."
+
+Indeed, a knock was heard directly, and Job, answering it himself,
+ushered in the stately figure of Major Sturgis.
+
+The major looked around him in surprise, finding more persons than he
+expected to see.
+
+"Don't you remember Ben, Major Sturgis?" asked Job.
+
+"When did you come home, Benjamin," asked the major, taken by surprise.
+
+"I have just arrived, sir."
+
+"Tired of California, eh?"
+
+"For the present, yes, sir."
+
+"I think my son Sam wishes to see you. He thinks of offering you a
+place."
+
+Ben bowed and smiled. He understood what sort of a place Sam was likely
+to offer.
+
+"Well, Mr. Stanton," asked the major, pompously, "have you decided to
+accept my offer for the house?"
+
+"No, major. Your offer is too small."
+
+"You are quite at liberty to look around for a higher bid, or rather you
+were. Now it is too late."
+
+"Just so, major. On the whole I don't think I want to sell."
+
+"'Don't want to sell'?" repeated the major, frowning; "you will have to
+sell."
+
+"Why will Uncle Job have to sell?" demanded Ben, irritated by the
+major's tone.
+
+"Young man," said the major, grandly, "this is not a matter with which
+you have anything to do. Your uncle and I can arrange it between
+ourselves."
+
+"Still, I shall advise Uncle Job to pay the mortgage, though he was
+swindled into agreeing to it."
+
+"I apprehend," sneered the major, "he will have some difficulty in
+paying me five hundred and fifteen dollars."
+
+"I guess I can manage to do it, major," said Job, mildly.
+
+"I don't believe you," said the major, hastily.
+
+"Have you got the mortgage with you?" asked Job.
+
+"Yes; here it is."
+
+"And here is your money," said the shoemaker, producing the bills.
+
+Major Sturgis received them in amazement bordering upon stupefaction,
+and counted them over three times.
+
+"I guess they're all right," said Job.
+
+"Where did you get them?" inquired the major, unable to control his
+curiosity.
+
+"I guess that doesn't matter so long as they're good," answered Job.
+"Still, I've no objection to tellin' you that it's Ben's money that he's
+kindly lent to me."
+
+"Did you bring this from California?" asked the major, turning to our
+hero.
+
+"Yes, sir," answered Ben.
+
+"Have you any more?"
+
+"I've got enough more, so that I don't expect to need the situation Sam
+thought of offering me."
+
+When Major Sturgis left the cottage his grand air had passed off, and he
+looked disappointed and mortified. Sam's spirits, too, were perceptibly
+dashed when he learned that the boy he disliked had been successful in
+California.
+
+"That settles the major," said Ben. "This afternoon I will see what I
+can do in the case of Richmond."
+
+"You can't do anything, Ben," said his aunt. "Leave him to the
+reproaches of his own conscience."
+
+"He hasn't got any conscience, Aunt Clarissa," said Ben.--"Jake, will
+you ride over with me to the next town this afternoon?"
+
+"I shall be glad to, Ben."
+
+Ben went at once to the office of an able lawyer, engaged his services,
+and put the matter into his hands. The result was, that John Richmond
+received a note by messenger summoning him to the lawyer's office. He at
+first tried to bluster, then to temporize, but the lawyer was stern and
+threatened to exhaust the resources of the law in behalf of his clients.
+Like most bullies, Richmond was a coward, and ended by giving a note for
+the full amount, with interest, at thirty days.
+
+"You had better leave this note with me," said the lawyer to Ben; "I
+will collect it when due."
+
+And he did. With a crestfallen air John Richmond had to confess himself
+defeated in his mean attempt at swindling, for he had obtained Uncle
+Job's indorsement with the deliberate intention of leaving him to pay
+the note, supposing that the old man would be too timid to do anything
+about it.
+
+Ben remained in Hampton a week. During that time he bought the
+three-acre lot adjoining--the major having given up the purchase when
+his plan of getting possession of Job Stanton's little property fell
+through--and gave it to his uncle. This made Job feel like a rich man,
+and he only accepted it on Ben's assurance that he had plenty more
+money.
+
+At the end of a week Ben received a letter from Richard Dewey, informing
+him that he proposed to go into business for himself in the city of New
+York, and was anxious to engage Ben as a clerk. This offer was too good
+to refuse. So Ben, a month later, found himself in a responsible
+business position. As his employer within a few months came into
+possession of his wife's large fortune, which her guardian was
+reluctantly obliged to surrender, he was not hampered by lack of
+capital, but within a year had his business securely established.
+
+Ten years have passed. Ben is now junior partner, and enjoys a high
+reputation for business ability. A year since he married his cousin
+Jennie, and in so doing has made a wise choice. He lives in the city,
+but Uncle Job and his wife still live in Hampton, though Job is no
+longer compelled to work for a livelihood. He has given up his shop, and
+confines himself to the cultivation of his small tract of land. Though
+now seventy, his eye is not dim nor his natural force abated.
+
+Major Sturgis is dead, and Sam, it is understood, has wasted a
+considerable portion of the handsome property that was left him. It is
+quite possible that he may end in poverty and destitution, and be forced
+at last to work for a living. This he would regard as a misfortune, but
+it will probably be a blessing in disguise, for the necessity of honest
+labor is generally a salutary restraint.
+
+Bradley has gone back to California. His son in now with him, and both
+are prosperous. Richard Dewey and his wife are rich and happy (the two
+do not always go together), and have four children, the second of whom,
+a boy, is named Benjamin Stanton Dewey, in honor of our hero.
+
+I have endeavored to ascertain what became of our Mongolian friend, Ki
+Sing, but without entire success. My impression is, that he started a
+laundry in San Francisco, made enough money for a Chinaman to retire
+upon, and went back to his native land to live in competence, the happy
+husband of a high-born Chinese maiden with incredibly small feet.
+Doubtless, he has more than once retailed to wondering ears the account
+of his adventures and perils when he, as well as Ben, visited California
+"in search of fortune."
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+FAMOUS ALGER BOOKS.
+
+
+RAGGED DICK SERIES.   By HORATIO ALGER, JR.   6 vols. 12mo. Cloth.
+
+RAGGED DICK.
+FAME AND FORTUNE.
+MARK THE MATCH BOY.
+ROUGH AND READY.
+BEN THE LUGGAGE BOY.
+RUFUS AND ROSE.
+
+
+TATTERED TOM SERIES.   By HORATIO ALGER, JR.   4 vols. 12mo. Cloth.
+FIRST SERIES.
+
+TATTERED TOM.
+PAUL THE PEDDLER.
+PHIL THE FIDDLER.
+SLOW AND SURE.
+
+
+TATTERED TOM SERIES.    4 vols. 12mo. Cloth.   SECOND SERIES.
+
+JULIUS.
+THE YOUNG OUTLAW.
+SAM'S CHANCE.
+THE TELEGRAPH BOY.
+
+
+CAMPAIGN SERIES.   By HORATIO ALGER, JR.   3 vols.
+
+FRANK'S CAMPAIGN.
+PAUL PRESCOTT'S CHARGE.
+CHARLIE CODMAN'S CRUISE.
+
+LUCK AND PLUCK SERIES.   By HORATIO ALGER, JR.   4 vols. 12mo. Cloth.
+FIRST SERIES.
+
+LUCK AND PLUCK.
+SINK OR SWIM.
+STRONG AND STEADY.
+STRIVE AND SUCCEED.
+
+
+LUCK AND PLUCK SERIES.   4 vols. 12mo. Cloth.   SECOND SERIES.
+
+TRY AND TRUST.
+BOUND TO RISE.
+RISEN FROM THE RANKS.
+HERBERT CARTER'S LEGACY.
+
+
+BRAVE AND BOLD SERIES.   By HORATIO ALGER, JR.   4 vols. 12mo. Cloth.
+
+BRAVE AND BOLD.
+JACK'S WARD.
+SHIFTING FOR HIMSELF.
+WAIT AND HOPE.
+
+
+PACIFIC SERIES.   By HORATIO ALGER, JR.   4 vols. 12mo.
+
+THE YOUNG ADVENTURER.
+THE YOUNG MINER.
+THE YOUNG EXPLORERS.
+BEN'S NUGGET.
+
+
+ATLANTIC SERIES.   By HORATIO ALGER, JR.   4 vols.
+
+THE YOUNG CIRCUS RIDER.
+DO AND DARE.
+HECTOR'S INHERITANCE.
+HELPING HIMSELF.
+
+
+WAY TO SUCCESS SERIES.   By HORATIO ALGER, JR.   4 vols. 12mo. Cloth.
+
+BOB BURTON.
+THE STORE BOY.
+LUKE WALTON.
+STRUGGLING UPWARD.
+
+
+NEW WORLD SERIES.   By HORATIO ALGER, JR.   3 vols. 12mo. Cloth.
+
+DIGGING FOR GOLD.
+FACING THE WORLD.
+IN A NEW WORLD.
+
+
+_Other Volumes in Preparation._
+
+
+
+
+Good Form for Men
+
+A Guide to Conduct and Dress
+on All Occasions
+
+BY CHARLES HARCOURT
+
+
+This thoroughly sensible and manly book is best described by a review
+which appeared in the Philadelphia "Public Ledger:"
+
+    Books on etiquette are not generally of such a
+    character as to be worth the notice of self-respecting
+    men. They are generally left to the "young misses" and
+    "gents" who live in mortal fear of being found out to
+    be what they feel themselves to be. "Good Form for
+    Men," however, is above the average of its kind, for
+    it is conceived and written in a wholesome, manly
+    spirit. There is nothing finical or foppish about the
+    conventions which Mr. Harcourt undertakes to codify
+    and explain. "Society," thereby meaning well-bred and
+    cultured men and women, has as much right to lay down
+    rules to dress and conduct as any "secret" society has
+    to insist upon ritual and ceremony. Mr. Harcourt's
+    book is a thoroughly sensible one and may be studied
+    with profit by men who, not being to the manner born,
+    desire to feel at ease among the cultured.
+
+12mo, Cloth, extra                                              $1.00
+Bound uniformly with Good Form for Women.
+
+
+Good Form for Women
+
+A Guide to Conduct and Dress
+on All Occasions
+
+BY MRS. CHARLES HARCOURT
+
+The writer addresses the great mass who make up the backbone of our
+country and takes no account of the passing fads of fashion. Etiquette
+at its best means consideration and fair treatment of every one, and
+every womanly woman should have an understanding of its rules to help
+her over difficult places. This book contains chapters on Introductions,
+Invitations, Cards and Calling, Dress, Correspondence and Reading,
+Conversation, Dinners, Balls, Table Etiquette, Receptions, Luncheons,
+Suppers, Engagements, Weddings, The Young Wife, etc. Unlike so many
+books of the same character "GOOD FORM FOR WOMEN" is not dry and
+tiresome but bright and entertaining from cover to cover. The personal
+tone adopted by the author cannot fail to attract and charm the reader.
+It is a book written by a sensible woman for sensible readers, and is a
+reliable and helpful guide.
+
+12mo, Cloth, extra                                              $1.00
+Bound uniformly with Good Form for Men.
+
+
+
+
+THE RENOWNED STANDARD JUVENILES
+
+BY EDWARD S. ELLIS
+
+Edward S. Ellis is regarded as the latter day Cooper. His books will
+always be read for the accurate pen pictures of pioneer life they
+portray.
+
+
+LIST OF TITLES
+
+Deerfoot Series
+
+Hunters of the Ozark.
+The Last War Trail.
+Camp in the Mountains.
+
+
+Log Cabin Series
+
+Lost Trail.
+Footprints in the Forest.
+Camp Fire and Wigwam.
+
+
+Boy Pioneer Series
+
+Ned in the Block-House.
+Ned on the River.
+Ned in the Woods.
+
+
+The Northwest Series
+
+Two Boys in Wyoming.
+Cowmen and Rustlers.
+A Strange Craft and its Wonderful Voyage.
+
+
+Boone and Kenton Series
+
+Shod with Silence.
+In the Days of the Pioneers.
+Phantom of the River.
+
+
+War Chief Series
+
+Red Eagle.
+Blazing Arrow.
+Iron Heart, War Chief of the Iroquois.
+
+
+The New Deerfoot Series
+
+Deerfoot in the Forest.
+Deerfoot on the Prairie.
+Deerfoot in the Mountains.
+
+
+Overland Series
+
+Alden the Pony Express Rider.
+Alden Among the Indians.
+
+
+True Grit Series
+
+Jim and Joe.
+Dorsey, the Young Inventor.
+Secret of Coffin Island.
+
+
+Great American Series
+
+Teddy and Towser; or, Early Days in California.
+Up the Forked River.
+
+
+Colonial Series
+
+An American King.
+The Cromwell of Virginia.
+The Last Emperor of the Old Dominion.
+
+
+Foreign Adventure Series
+
+Lost in the Forbidden Land.
+River and Jungle.
+The Hunt of the White Elephant.
+
+
+Paddle Your Own Canoe Series
+
+The Forest Messengers.
+The Mountain Star.
+Queen of the Clouds.
+
+
+Arizona Series
+
+Off the Reservation; or, Caught in an Apache Raid.
+Trailing Geronimo; or, Campaigning with Cook.
+The Round-Up; or, Geronimo's Last Raid.
+
+
+The Catamount Camp Series
+
+Captain of the Camp.
+Catamount Camp.
+
+
+PRICE $1.00 PER VOLUME
+Sold Separately and in set
+
+Complete Catalogue of Famous Alger Books, Celebrated Castlemon Books and
+Renowned Ellis Books mailed on application.
+
+THE JOHN C. WINSTON CO.                              PHILADELPHIA, PA.
+
+
+
+
+[Transcriber's Note: The advertisement for "Famous Alger Books" has been
+moved from its position before the main text to the rear of the book. In
+addition, the following corrections have been made to the original text.
+
+In Chapter V, an apostrophe following "I don't see anything that looks
+like a cabin," has been changed to a quotation mark.
+
+In Chapter VI, "Here's the cord, Tom, Tie his hands and feet" has been
+changed to "Here's the cord, Tom, tie his hands and feet".
+
+In Chapter IX, "these follows have tied me hand and foot" has been
+changed to "these fellows have tied me hand and foot"; a missing period
+has been inserted after ""It'll do as far as it goes, Mosely," said
+Bradley"; a superfluous quotation mark has been removed following
+"echoed Tom Hadley from the other tree."
+
+In Chapter XII, "I thought that too, Ben?" has been changed to "I
+thought that too, Ben."; an apostrophe preceding "there was an old
+farmer, Deacon Pitkins" has been changed to a quotation mark.
+
+In Chapter XIII, "My legs get cramped when I am on horsback too long."
+has been changed to "My legs get cramped when I am on horseback too
+long."
+
+In Chapter XVI, a superfluous quotation mark has been removed preceding
+"There's some of us want to see you."
+
+In Chapter XVIII, a missing quotation mark has been added preceding "We
+will make your share equal to that of the luckiest miner among us."
+
+In Chapter XXI, a missing quotation mark has been added preceding "Her
+fortune amounts to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, does it
+not?"; a missing period has been inserted after "muttered the merchant".
+
+In Chapter XXXI, "So Uncle Joe took off his leather apron" has been
+changed to "So Uncle Job took off his leather apron".
+
+In Chapter XXXIII, a missing period has been inserted after "All this
+happened soon after Ben went away"; "red cotton handkerkerchief" has
+been changed to "red cotton handkerchief".
+
+In Chapter XXXIV, "Why, Uncle Ben" has been changed to "Why, Uncle
+Job".]
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ben's Nugget, by Horatio, Jr. Alger
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BEN'S NUGGET ***
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