THE CLEVER CHINAMAN AT WORK.
Hop no sooner had his hands free than he said:
"You wantee me tellee lat ley mustee git tee velly muchee money, and len
you lettee Young Wild West go?"
"Yes, that's it. You seem to understand pretty well for a Chinee. You
understood enough to clean me out of a couple of hundred dollars last
night, too. I reckon you had better give me that money and all the rest
you have, before you go on your errand."
"Me velly solly," declared Hop, acting as though he really felt bad over
it, "but me leavee allee my money in um camp."
This was a fact, too, as all he had with him was about five dollars in
silver.
"I reckon I had better go through you," said the leader of the outlaws.
Hop quickly produced what money he had, and then held up his arms to let
the man make a search of his clothing.
Roche went through him and brought out as many as half a dozen packs of
cards, a flask of whisky, several little vials containing liquids and
powders, two or three oblong objects that looked like a lot of paper
pressed together, some black-looking cigars, a dead mouse, some colored
string, and a lot of other small things, too numerous to mention.
But there was no money to be found.
"That's a nice lot of trash fur a galoot ter have in his pockets," he
declared, looking at the pile in disgust. "What are you doing with a
dead mouse in your pockets?"
"Me feel lat me might git tee hungly some time, and len me have lillee
bite to eatee," replied Hop, looking very innocent.
The outlaws grinned at this.
They had all heard that Chinamen liked to eat rats, so they were not
surprised to hear that one ate mice.
Even Wild smiled at the way Hop was working it.
He now believed that the chances of getting free from the outlaws were
improving, for Hop would be apt to manage it in some way.
"I'll tell you what you do," said Roche, as Hop proceeded to put the
articles back where they had been taken from. "You get your money at the
camp and bring that here, too."
Allee light, Misler Outlaw, replied Hop. "You will havee um cigar?"
He tendered one and, taking it, the outlaw looked at it suspiciously and
then cut off the end with his bowie knife.
Hop lighted one, too, and then he stood still.
"Me allee samee forgittee whattee you say," he said, as he looked
puzzled.
Cap Roche went over it again.
"Oh, allee light. Me understand."
The cigar he had given the villain was a good one, and he puffed away at
it with no little satisfaction, since it served to soothe his nerves
somewhat.
Hop took occasion to drop the dead mouse in the pocket of the man who
was standing at the side of Wild to prevent his possible escape, and
then he turned to go.
But he came back again, and, looking at the villain he had played the
trick on he said:
"You takee my tanglefoot and allee samee puttee in your pockee; me
wantee."
As it was Roche who had appropriated the flask, the man shook his head
and grinned.
"See here!" exclaimed the leader, angrily. "You ought to be satisfied
that I didn't take more than the whisky. You've got your mouse, so go on
and do your errand."
"Oh!" cried Hop, his face lighting up. "Now me know. You takee um
tanglefoot, and lis man takee my mousee! He allee samee goatee in um
pockee."
Instinctively the outlaw put his hand in his pocket, and the first thing
his fingers came in contact with was the dead mouse.
He uttered a cry and pulled it out.
"Hip hi!" yelled Hop, as he ran for the mouth of the cave.
But the outlaw was just mad enough to run and catch him before he got to
the curtain.
"Here," said Hop, "me givee you lis. Allee samee diamond ling inside.
Lettee poor Chinee go!"
It was one of the oblong, little packages that he handed to the man,
and, letting the mouse drop, he took it and walked back to those in the
big cave.
But he did not notice that a tiny spark was working its way along what
seemed to be a string on the package.
The fact was that it was one of his patent firecrackers that Hop had
given him.
Just as he joined the rest at the table the thing exploded with a noise
like that of a shotgun.
"Ow! Murder!" yelled the outlaw, for his hand was burned by the
operation.
Then he danced about like a wild man, while the prisoners were forced to
laugh, in spite of their situation.
Cap Roche was the first to realize what had happened.
"Shut up!" he commanded. "He played a joke on you, that's all. Serves
you right for fooling with him. That is the greatest Chinaman I ever
saw."
The victim went for water to cool his burning hand.
"Allee light; me go now," called out Hop, who had been, watching from
the front of the cave. "Me soonee come back with um money to pay um
toll, so be."
Out he went, and he had not gone more than a dozen yards when he came
upon the scout.
"Where's Anna an' Eloise?" Charlie demanded.
"Outlaws allee samee gottee," was the reply. "Come 'way petty
quicken."
He almost pulled him around the bend, and then he found Jim and Arietta
there.
The three had been watching from the top of the cliff, and when they saw
the outlaws take Wild in they did not wait very long there, but came
back to the pass.
It was their intention to take up a couple of lariats and try and devise
a means of getting Wild away from the villains, but when they found that
the girls and the Chinaman were not there, while the horses were just as
they had left them, they did not know what to make of it.
It was while the scout was creeping up to the cave, thinking that the
outlaws might have caught those they had left in the pass, that he saw
Hop come out.
It was surely a morning of surprises, and Charlie was badly puzzled.
But when Hop told of the errand he has been sent on he was completely
silenced for the time being.
When he found the use of his tongue he exclaimed:
"Well, that beats anything yet! So ther galoots wants us ter pay money,
eh? Well, I reckon not! We'll jest git Wild an' ther two gals away from
'em without pain' a thing. Hop, you take my horse an' ride over to ther
camp as fast as yer kin. Jest git ther miners together an' tell 'em
what's up. Then yer kin git some of ther counterfeit money you've got
hid around somewhere an' come back an' take it ter Roche. While you're
talkin' to 'em we'll all creep in an' fix ther galoots fur good an'
all!"
"Allee light, Misler Charlie."
Hop was not long in mounting the scout's horse, and then he rode swiftly
to Big Bonanza.
He went to the camp first and, telling Wing enough to make him
frightened about it, he got a roll of counterfeit money from his
saddlebags.
This he stuffed in his pocket, and then he rode to the saloon.
"Misler Hoker," he said; "me wanted allee samee lot of mans to go and
fight um outlaws, so be. Ley allee samee goatee Young Wild West in um
cave, and Missy Anna and Missy Eloise, too, so be."
The keeper of the saloon was astounded when he heard this.
He questioned the Chinaman and soon came to the conclusion that he was
telling the truth.
Then he hastily left the saloon and went out and told the miners as fast
as he could get to the places they were working at.
Shortly afterward the first of the miners to be notified by Hoker came
running into the saloon.
Hop had to answer a lot of questions, but he managed to make it plain to
the miners what was wanted of them, so in a few minutes they were
marching for the pass.
The Chinaman rode on ahead and soon came to the spot where he had left
Charlie, Jim and Arietta.
But they were not there now, and, thinking that they had ascended the
cliff again, he decided to go on in the cave.
He went around to the curtain and found the scout lying close to the
cliff near it.
Charlie motioned for him to go on in, and, without looking at him any
further, Hop lifted the curtain and obeyed.