Part 47 (1/2)

”Nothin',” said Bill, gruffly; ”only the Sheriff of Calaveras ez kem down with us hez nabbed his man jest in his very tracks.”

”When, Bill?”

”Right yer--on this very verandy--furst man he seed!”

”What for?” ”Who?” ”What hed he bin doin'?” ”Who is it?” ”What's up?”

persisted the chorus.

”Killed a man up at One Horse Gulch, last night,” said Bill, grasping the decanter which the attentive bar-keeper had, without previous request, placed before him.

”Who did he kill, Bill?”

”A little Mexican from 'Fris...o...b.. the name o' Ramirez.”

”What's the man's name that killed him--the man that you took?”

The voice was Jack Hamlin's.

Yuba Bill instantly turned, put down his gla.s.s, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and then deliberately held out his great hand with an exhaustive grin. ”Dern my skin, ole man, if it ain't you! And how's things, eh? Yer lookin' a little white in the gills, but peart and sa.s.sy, ez usual.

Heerd you was kinder off colour, down in Sacramento la.s.s week. And it's you, ole fell, and jest in time! Bar-keep--hist that pizen over to Jack.

Here to ye agin, ole man! But I'm glad to see ye!”

The crowd hung breathless over the two men--awestruck and respectful. It was a meeting of the G.o.ds--Jack Hamlin and Yuba Bill. None dare speak.

Hamlin broke the silence at last, and put down his gla.s.s.

”What,” he asked, lazily, yet with a slight colour on his cheek, ”did you say was the name of the chap that fetched that little Mexican?”

”Gabriel Conroy,” said Bill.

CHAPTER II.

MR. HAMLIN TAKES A HAND.

The capture had been effected quietly. To the evident astonishment of his captor, Gabriel had offered no resistance, but had yielded himself up with a certain composed willingness, as if it were only the preliminary step to the quicker solution of a problem that was sure to be solved. It was observed, however, that he showed a degree of caution that was new to him--asking to see the warrant, the particulars of the discovery of the body, and utterly withholding that voluble explanation or apology which all who knew his character confidently expected him to give, whether guilty or innocent--a caution which, accepted by them as simply the low cunning of the criminal, told against him. He submitted quietly to a search that, however, disclosed no concealed weapon or anything of import. But when a pair of handcuffs were shown him, he changed colour, and those that were nearest to him saw that he breathed hurriedly, and hesitated in the first words of some protest that rose to his lips. The sheriff, a man of known intrepidity, who had the rapid and clear intuition that comes with courageous self-possession noticed it also, and quietly put the handcuffs back in his pocket.

”I reckon there's no use for 'em here; ef _you're_ willin' to take the risks, _I_ am.”

The eyes of the two men met, and Gabriel thanked him. In that look he recognised and accepted the fact that on a motion to escape he would be instantly killed.

They were to return with the next stage, and in the interval Gabriel was placed in an upper room, and securely guarded. Here, falling into his old apologetic manner, he asked permission to smoke a pipe, which was at once granted by his good-humoured guard, and then threw himself at full length upon the bed. The rising wind rattled the windows noisily, and entering tossed the smoke-wreaths that rose from his pipe in fitful waves about the room. The guard, who was much more embarra.s.sed than his charge, was relieved of an ineffectual attempt to carry on a conversation suitable to the occasion by Gabriel's simple directness--

”You needn't put yourself out to pa.s.s the time o' day with me,” he said, gently, ”that bein' extry to your reg'lar work. Ef you hev any friends ez you'd like to talk to in your own line, invite 'em in, and don't mind me.”

But here the guard's embarra.s.sment was further relieved by the entrance of Joe Hall, the sheriff.

”There's a gentleman here to speak with you,” he said to Gabriel, ”he can stay until we're ready to go.” Turning to the guard, he added, ”You can take a chair outside the door in the hall. It's all right, it's the prisoner's counsel.”