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"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 h...
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...
"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 Bradl...
"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 y...
"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...
"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 m...
"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." "The...
"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...
"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'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 morni...
"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." ...
"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 mustan...
"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...
"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 ...
"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 tw...
"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...
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...
"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 quee...
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 S...
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 ...
"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 ...
"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...
"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 com...
"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 t...
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 ...
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 f...
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 mul...
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 ea...
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...
"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 suppor...
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 ...
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 t...
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 raveno...
"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 littl...
"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 m...
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," su...
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', strang...
"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 ventu...
"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...
"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 kno...
"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, an...
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 visi...
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...
"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 combi...
"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 up...
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 B...
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 ...
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 th...
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 testi...
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...
"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 t...
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...
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 openin...
"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. ...
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 i...
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 De...
"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 ...
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 dista...
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...
"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...
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 depress...
"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 m...
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...
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 hunter...
"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 ...
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, i...
"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 y...
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...
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 ...
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 t...
"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...
"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 priv...
"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 ...
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...
"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...
"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 a...
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 ...