"whether to do it or not, is what bothers me," soliloquized mr. weasel, pacing meditatively in front of the saloon. "the old man offers me two thousand to get tarpaulin away from them fellers, and let him know where to meet him an' his daughter. two thousand's a pretty penny, an' the bein' picked out by so smart a lookin' man is an honor big enough to set off agin' a few hundred dollars more. but, on t'other hand, if they catch him, they'll come back here, an' who knows but what they'll want the old man an' girl as bad as they wanted tarpaulin? a bird in the hand's worth two in the bush—better keep near the ones i got, i reckon. here they come now!"
as mr. weasel concluded his dialogue with himself, mr. botayne and millicent approached, in company with the colonel.
the colonel stopped just beyond the saloon, and said:
"now, here's your best p'int—you can see the hill-trail fur better'n five miles, an' the crick fur a mile an' a half. i'll jest hev a shed knocked together to keep the lady from the sun. an' keep a stiff upper lip, both of yer—trust jim hockson; nobody in the mines ever knowed him to fail."
millicent shivered at the mention of jim's name, and the colonel, unhappily ignorant of the cause of her agitation, tried to divert her mind from the chances of harm to tarpaulin by growing eloquent in praise of jim hockson.
suddenly the colonel himself started and grew pale. he quickly recovered himself, however, and, with the delicacy of a gentleman, walked rapidly away, as millicent and her father looked in the direction from which the colonel's surprise came.
there, handcuffed, with beard and hair singed close, clothes torn and face bleeding, walked ethelbert brown between the two detectives, while jim hockson, with head bowed and hands behind his back, followed a few yards behind.
some one gave the word at the saloon, and the boys hurried out, but the colonel pointed significantly toward the sorrowful couple, while with the other hand he pointed an ugly pistol, cocked, toward the saloon.
millicent hurried from her father's side, and flung her arms about the sorry figure of her lover; and jim hockson, finding his pathway impeded, raised his eyes, and then blushed violently.
"sorry for you, sir," said one of the detectives, touching his hat to mr. botayne, "but can't help being glad we got a day ahead of you."
"what amount of money will buy your prisoner?" demanded the unhappy father.
"beg pardon, sir—very sorry, but—we'd be compounding felony in that case, you know," replied one of the officers, gazing with genuine pity on the weeping girl.
"don't worry," whispered the colonel in mr. botayne's ear; "we'll clean out them two fellers, and let tarpaulin loose again. ev'ry feller come here for somethin' darn it!" with which sympathizing expression the colonel again retired.
"i'll give you as much as the bank offers," said mr. botayne.
"very sorry, sir; but can't," replied the detective. "we'd be just as bad then in the eyes of the law as before. reward, five thousand, bank lose twenty-five thousand—thirty thousand, in odd figures, is least we could take. even that wouldn't be reg'lar; but it would be a safe risk, seeing all the bank cares for's to get its money back."
mr. botayne groaned.
"we'll make it as pleasant as we can for you, sir," continued the detective, "if you and the lady'll go back on the ship with us. we'll give him the liberty of the ship as soon as we're well away from land. we'd consider it our duty to watch him, of course; but we'd try to do it so's not to give offense—we've got hearts, though we are in this business. hope you can buy him clear when you get home, sir?"
"i've sacrificed everything to get here—i can never clear him," sighed mr botayne.
"i can!" exclaimed a clear, manly voice.
millicent raised her eyes, and for the first time saw jim hockson.
she gave him a look in which astonishment, gratitude and fear strove for the mastery, and he gave her a straightforward, honest, respectful look in return.
the two detectives dropped their lower jaws alarmingly, and raised their eyebrows to their hat-rims.
"the bank at san francisco has an agent here," said jim. "colonel, won't you fetch him?"
the colonel took a lively double-quick, and soon returned with a business-looking man.
"mr. green," said jim, "please tell me how much i have in your bank?"
the clerk looked over a small book he extracted from his pocket, and replied, briefly:
"over two thousand ounces."
"please give these gentlemen a check, made whatever way they like it, for the equivalent of thirty thousand dollars. i'll sign it," said jim.
the clerk and one of the detectives retired to an adjacent hut, and soon called jim. jim joined them, and immediately he and the officer returned to the prisoner.
"it's all right, maxley," said the officer; "let him go."
the officer removed the handcuffs, and ethelbert brown was free. his first motion was to seize jim's hand.
"hockson, tell me why you helped those detectives," said he.
"revenge!" replied jim.
"for what?" cried brown, changing color.
"gaining millie botayne's love," replied jim.
brown looked at millicent, and read the story from her face.
he turned toward jim a wondering look, and asked, slowly:
"then, why did you free me?"
"because she loved you," said jim, and then he walked quietly away.
