"I don"t see what difference it makes to us which robber got the money.
"Ye don"t," said Bill, raising his head, with a sudden twinkle in his eyes. "Then ye don"t know Snapshot Harry. Do ye suppose he"s goin" to sit down and twiddle his thumbs with that skin game played on him? No, sir," he continued, with a thoughtful deliberation, drawing his fingers slowly through his long beard, "he spotted it--and smelt out the whole trick ez soon ez he opened that box, and that"s why he didn"t foller us!
He"ll hunt those sneak thieves into h-ll but what he"ll get "em, and,"
he went on still more slowly, "by the livin" hokey! I reckon, sonny, that"s jest how ye"ll get your chance to chip in!"
"I don"t understand," said Brice impatiently.
"Well," said Bill, with more provoking slowness, as if he were communing with himself rather than Brice, "Harry"s mighty proud and high toned, and to be given away like this has cut down into his heart, you bet. It ain"t the money he"s thinkin" of; it"s this split in the gang--the loss of his power ez boss, ye see--and ef he could get hold o" them chaps he"d let the money slide ez long ez they didn"t get it. So you"ve got a detective on your side that"s worth the whole police force of Californy!
Ye never heard anything about Snapshot Harry, did ye?" asked Bill carelessly, raising his eyes to Brice"s eager face.
The young man flushed slightly. "Very little," he said. At the same time a vision of the pretty girl in the settler"s cabin flashed upon him with a new significance.
"He"s more than half white, in some ways," said Bill thoughtfully, "and they say he lives somewhere about here in a cabin in the bush, with a crippled sister and her darter, who both swear by him. It mightn"t be hard to find him--ef a man was dead set on it."
Brice faced about with determined eyes. "I"LL DO IT," he said quietly.
"Ye might," said Bill, still more deliberately stroking his beard, "mention my name, ef ye ever get to see him."
"Your name," e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed the astonished Brice.
"My name," repeated Bill calmly. "He knows it"s my bounden duty to kill him ef I get the chance, and I know that he"d plug me full o" holes in a minit ef thar war a necessity for it. But in these yer affairs, sonny, it seems to be the understood thing by the kempany that I"m to keep fiery young squirts like you, and chuckle-headed pa.s.sengers like them"--jerking his thumb towards the other room--"from gettin"
themselves killed by their rashness. So ontil the kempany fill the top o" that coach with men who ain"t got any business to do BUT fightin"
other men who ain"t got any other business to do BUT to fight them--the odds are agin us! Harry has always acted square to me--that"s how I know he ain"t in this sneak-thief business, and why he didn"t foller us, suspectin" suthin", and I"ve always acted square to him. All the same, I"d like ter hev seen his face when that box was opened! Lordy!" Here Bill again collapsed in his silent paroxysm of mirth. "Ye might tell him how I laughed!"
"I would hardly do that, Bill," said the young man, smiling in spite of himself. "But you"ve given me an idea, and I"ll work it out."
Bill glanced at the young fellow"s kindling eyes and flushing cheek, and nodded. "Well, rastle with that idea later on, sonny. I"ll fix you all right in my report to the kempany, but the rest you must work alone.
I"ve started out the usual posse, circus-ridin" down the road after Harry. He"d be a rough customer to meet just now," continued Bill, with a chuckle, "ef thar was the ghost of a chance o" them comin" up with him, for him and his gang is scattered miles away by this." He paused, tossed off another gla.s.s of whiskey, wiped his mouth, and saying to Brice, with a wink, "It"s about time to go and comfort them thar pa.s.sengers," led the way through the crowded barroom into the stage office.
The spectacle of Bill"s humorously satisfied face and Brice"s bright eyes and heightened color was singularly effective. The "inside"
pa.s.sengers, who had experienced neither the excitement nor the danger of the robbery, yet had been obliged to listen to the hairbreadth escapes of the others, pooh-poohed the whole affair, and even the "outsides"
themselves were at last convinced that the robbery was a slight one, with little or no loss to the company. The clamor subsided almost as suddenly as it had arisen; the wiser pa.s.sengers fashioned their att.i.tude on the sang-froid of Yuba Bill, and the whole coach load presently rolled away as complacently as if nothing had happened.
II
The robbery furnished the usual amount of copy for the local press.
There was the inevitable compliment to Yuba Bill for his well-known coolness; the conduct of the young expressman, "who, though new to the service, displayed an intrepidity that only succ.u.mbed to numbers," was highly commended, and even the pa.s.sengers received their meed of praise, not forgetting the lady, "who accepted the incident with the light-hearted pleasantry characteristic of the Californian woman." There was the usual allusion to the necessity of a Vigilance Committee to cope with this "organized lawlessness" but it is to be feared that the readers of "The Red Dog Clarion," however ready to lynch a horse thief, were of the opinion that rich stage express companies were quite able to take care of their own property.
It was with full cognizance of these facts and their uselessness to him that the next morning Mr. Ned Brice turned from the road where the coach had just halted on the previous night and approached the settler"s cabin. If a little less sanguine than he was in Yuba Bill"s presence, he was still doggedly inflexible in his design, whatever it might have been, for he had not revealed it even to Yuba Bill. It was his own; it was probably crude and youthful in its directness, but for that reason it was probably more convincing than the vacillations of older counsel.
He paused a moment at the closed door, conscious, however, of some hurried movement within which signified that his approach had been observed. The door was opened, and disclosed only the old woman. The same dogged expression was on her face as when he had last seen it, with the addition of querulous expectancy. In reply to his polite "Good-morning," she abruptly faced him with her hands still on the door.
"Ye kin stop right there! Ef yer want ter make any talk about this yar robbery, ye might ez well skedaddle to oncet, for we ain"t "takin" any"
to-day!"
"I have no wish to talk about the robbery," said Brice quietly, "and as far as I can prevent it, you will not be troubled by any questions. If you doubt my word or the intentions of the company, perhaps you will kindly read that."
He drew from his pocket a still damp copy of "The Red Dog Clarion" and pointed to a paragraph.
"Wot"s that?" she said querulously, feeling for her spectacles.
"Shall I read it?"
"Go on."
He read it slowly aloud. I grieve to say it had been jointly concocted the night before at the office of the "Clarion" by himself and the young journalist--the latter"s a.s.sistance being his own personal tribute to the graces of Miss Flo. It read as follows:--
"The greatest a.s.sistance was rendered by Hiram Tarbox, Esq., a resident of the vicinity, in removing the obstruction, which was, no doubt, the preliminary work of some of the robber gang, and in providing hospitality for the delayed pa.s.sengers. In fact, but for the timely warning of Yuba Bill by Mr. Tarbox, the coach might have crashed into the tree at that dangerous point, and an accident ensued more disastrous to life and limb than the robbery itself."
The sudden and unmistakable delight that expanded the old woman"s mouth was so convincing that it might have given Brice a tinge of remorse over the success of his stratagem, had he not been utterly absorbed in his purpose. "Hiram!" she shouted suddenly.
The old man appeared from some back door with a promptness that proved his near proximity, and glanced angrily at Brice until he caught sight of his wife"s face. Then his anger changed to wonder.
"Read that again, young feller," she said exultingly.
Brice re-read the paragraph aloud for Mr. Tarbox"s benefit.
"That "ar "Hiram Tarbox, Esquire," means YOU, Hiram," she gasped, in delighted explanation.
Hiram seized the paper, read the paragraph himself, spread out the whole page, examined it carefully, and then a fatuous grin began slowly to extend itself over his whole face, invading his eyes and ears, until the heavy, harsh, dogged lines of his nostrils and jaws had utterly disappeared.
"B"gosh!" he said, "that"s square! Kin I keep it?"
"Certainly," said Brice. "I brought it for you."
"Is that all ye came for?" said Hiram, with sudden suspicion.
"No," said the young man frankly. Yet he hesitated a moment as he added, "I would like to see Miss Flora."
His hesitation and heightened color were more disarming to suspicion than the most elaborate and carefully prepared indifference. With their knowledge and pride in their relative"s fascinations they felt it could have but one meaning! Hiram wiped his mouth with his hand, a.s.sumed a demure expression, glanced at his wife, and answered:--
"She ain"t here now."
Mr. Brice"s face displayed his disappointment. But the true lover holds a talisman potent with old and young. Mrs. Tarbox felt a sneaking maternal pity for this suddenly stricken Strephon.
"She"s gone home," she added more gently--"went at sun-up this mornin"."
"Home," repeated Brice. "Where"s that?"
Mrs. Tarbox looked at her husband and hesitated. Then she said--a little in her old manner--"Her uncle"s."
"Can you direct me the way there?" asked Brice simply.
The astonishment in their faces presently darkened into suspicion again.
"Ef that"s your little game," began Hiram, with a lowering brow--
"I have no little game but to see her and speak with her," said Brice boldly. "I am alone and unarmed, as you see," he continued, pointing to his empty belt and small dispatch bag slung on his shoulder, "and certainly unable to do any one any harm. I am willing to take what risks there are. And as no one knows of my intention, nor of my coming here, whatever might happen to me, no one need know it. You would be safe from questioning."