Captain Hampton sat for some time longer watching what was going on. He
saw that the girl did not herself serve, but generally superintended the
two lads who were serving the drinks, receiving the money and weighing
the gold dust that served as currency, a pinch of gold being the price
for a glass of liquor of any kind. Two men, one of whom he had
recognised at once as being Truscott, looked after the boys attending to
the guests at the tables. Now that he obtained a full sight of the girl,
he saw that, striking as was the likeness to Dorothy, there were points
of difference; her hair was darker, her complexion less clear and
brilliant, her expression more serious and far less variable than
Dorothy's and lacking the sunshine that was one of the latter's chief
charms. Still, he could well understand that one could be mistaken for
the other at first sight, especially when dressed precisely alike, and
with the face shadowed by a veil. After sitting half an hour longer he
returned to the waggon.
'I have found them, Jacob.'
The lad gave an exclamation of satisfaction.
'It is just as I expected,' Captain Hampton went on; 'they have opened a
saloon--that large one with the boarded sides. You had better have your
supper, Jacob; I took mine in there. I want to think quietly. We have
done the first part of our work, but the most difficult is still before
us; at least it strikes me it is the most difficult.'
'You will manage it somehow,' Jacob said confidently; for his faith in
his master was absolutely unlimited.
Captain Hampton sat for a long time on the stump of a tree smoking and
thinking. Now that the search was over, the task that he had set himself
seemed more difficult than before. Think as he would he could form no
definite plan of action, and concluded that he would have to wait and
see how things turned up. He would, he foresaw, have but few
opportunities of speaking to the female, and he had already decided that
she was a woman with a strong will of her own, and not likely to act
upon impulse. Her expression reminded him much more strongly of Dorothy
as he had seen her since she had taken offence with him, than of what
she was when he first returned to England.
'This girl has had troubles, I have no doubt,' he said, 'and I should
say she has borne them alone. Jacob,' he said suddenly, as the boy
returned from seeing to the horses, 'I want you to go to that saloon,
and take a drink at the bar. Have a good look at the girl there. You
said the photograph reminded you of a girl that lived in the court with
you. I want you to see if you still notice the resemblance.'
Jacob returned in half-an-hour.
'Well, Jacob?'
'She is like, sir, wonderful like. Of course, she is older and much
prettier than Sally was, but she is very like too, and she has got a way
of giving her head a shake just as Sally had, to shake her hair off her
face. If it wasn't that it doesn't seem as it could be her I should say
as it was.'
'I think it is quite possible that it is she, Jacob. Some day you must
try to find out, but not at present. We must see how things go on here
before we do anything. I shall get work here and you must go backwards
and forwards with the team. We must earn our living, you know. I have
got money still, but I must keep some in reserve for paying our passage
home, or for anything that may turn up; and if we stop here long I shall
want to buy a share in a claim. I fancy they are doing well here. There
is no reason one should not make the most of one's time. To-morrow you
can go to that saloon and say you are going down to Sacramento next day,
and would be willing to bring up a light load for them. That may give
you an opportunity of speaking to the girl, and her voice may help you
to decide whether it is the girl you knew.'
Next morning Captain Hampton went through the diggings; presently he
came upon the man he had spoken to the evening before. He was working
with two others. He looked up from his work and nodded.
'Taking a look round, mate?'
'Yes.'
'Do you want a job? We are a man short.'
'What are you giving?'
'Five dollars a day.'
Ned Hampton nodded.
'All right,' he said, 'I will come to work to-morrow. Is your claim a
good one?'
'We hope it is going to be; we gave a thousand dollars for it. It is
well in the middle of the line of the valley, and we reckon it will be
rich as we get lower, though at present we are not doing much more than
paying our expenses. Do you want to buy a share?'
'I will tell you after a few days,' Ned said. 'What do you want for it?'
'It just depends,' one of the other men said. 'If it is to a man who
would do his full share of work we would let him have a quarter for four
hundred dollars, for we shall have to do some timbering soon. If it is
to a man who is afraid to put his back into it we would not have him at
any price.'
'Very well, then, it will suit us both to wait for a week. I will come
to work to-morrow on hire.'
'He looks the right sort,' the man said, as Ned Hampton moved away. 'He
is a quiet-looking fellow, active and strong. A Britisher, I should say,
by his accent.'
After strolling round the camp Hampton looked in at the saloon. There
were only three or four men at the bar. The girl was not there.
'I have been round there this morning,' Jacob said when he returned to
the waggon. 'I did not see her. They have given me an order for as much
as I will carry. They would fill the cart up, but I would not have more
than my usual load.'
'You did not know the man by sight at all, I suppose?'
'No. I don't think I ever set eyes on him before.'
'Spirits and groceries, I suppose, principally?'
'Yes; they are expecting flour and bacon up in a waggon that ought to be
in to-day.'
'Did they ask you any questions, Jacob?'
'Only if I had been out here long. I said we had been out here a good
bit, and had been hauling goods to the camps where we had been. I did
not give any time, but it was a long list of camps, and they must have
reckoned we had been out here some months. One of them said something
about a reference, so as to be sure that I should bring the goods here
when I got them, but I said--Reference be blowed. We had been hauling
out here long enough, and as we had got a waggon and team it weren't
likely we were going to risk them and being shot for the sake of a few
pounds' worth of goods: so they did not say anything more about it. I
said my mate was going to work here and was going to buy a claim, and
that satisfied them a bit. I suppose you are going to have your grub
here at one o'clock?'
'Yes. When do you start, Jacob?'
'I will go as soon as we have had dinner. We will get up the tent with
the tarpaulin now, if you are ready; then if we go round just after
dinner is over in the saloon I will get the orders for the things at
Sacramento and be off.'
'I have arranged about working in a claim, Jacob. I will take my meals
at the saloon while you are away.'
When they went into the saloon the great bulk of the men were off to
their work again, and only two or three were lounging at the bar. Jacob
went up to Murdoch, who was setting things straight.
'Have yer got the list ready?' he asked. 'I am just going to hitch up
the team.'
'I will get it up for you directly.'
'We will take a drink while you are getting it,' Ned Hampton said. 'I am
this lad's mate, and have pretty well arranged about taking a share in a
claim, so if you like he can go down regularly for you.'
They strode up to the bar, while Murdoch went through an inner door. He
appeared behind the bar directly after with Truscott.
'These are the men that are going down with the cart, Linda,' the latter
said to the girl; 'at least the lad is going, the man is going to work
on the flat; they want the list.'
'Brandy and champagne are the two things we want most,' she said. 'You
had better get eighteen gallons of Bourbon, eighteen of brandy, and
twelve dozen of champagne. I have made out the list of the groceries we
want. There it is; that comes to thirteen pounds.'
Truscott then made a calculation as to the amount required for the wine
and spirits, and drew a cheque on the bank.
'You are sure you think it safe, Murdoch?' he asked in low tones.
'Safe enough,' the other replied. 'They know well enough if they were to
take it they would be hunted down; anyhow there is no other way of doing
it unless one of us goes down, and neither of us can be spared. We did
not reckon on the stuff going so fast, and it would never do to run out.
They would go to the other places at once if they could not have liquor
here. When do you expect to be back?' he asked, going across to the bar.
'In about four days, if they don't keep me.'
'They won't keep you,' the man said, 'longer than to go to the bank and
get the money. To-day is Tuesday; you will get down to the road by
to-night and you ought to be there by Thursday afternoon. If you get
there in time to load up then and get out of the place you ought to be
back by Saturday night.'
'I reckon I shall,' Jacob said; 'that is if all goes right and I don't
smash a wheel or an axle.'
'I will give you twenty dollars more than I bargained for if you are
back by sundown on Saturday. We shall want the stuff bad by that time.'
Jacob nodded. 'I will do my best,' he said. 'The horses can do it if we
don't get blocked with anything. Is there any shopping I can do for you,
miss?'
The girl shook her head.
'No, thank you; I have got everything I want.'
'You had better call at the post office when you get to the town,' Ned
said. 'If you should think of anything more, miss, there would be time
enough if you sent it off in the mail bag to-morrow morning. If you
address it, "J. Langley," he will get it.'
The girl glanced at him with some little interest. He had spoken in a
rough tone, but she detected a different intonation of the voice to that
in which she was generally addressed.
'You are English, are you not?' she asked.
'Yes, miss, I came across from the old country some time ago.'
'I am English too,' she said. 'I suppose the horses and cart belong to
you?'
'They are a sort of joint property between us,' he said; 'I work at the
diggings and he drives, and I take it he makes more money than I do.'
'What part do you come from?' she asked.
'Mostly London,' he said; 'but I have been working about in a good many
places, and I don't look upon one as home more than the other.'
'You are going to work here for a bit?' she asked.
'Yes, it seems from all I hear as good a place as any, and if I can get
regular work for the waggon I shall stop here for a while. I am just
buying a share in a claim, and I shall anyhow stop to see how it works
out.'
'I have not seen you here before,' she said.
'I took my supper here last night,' he said; 'but the place was full. I
did not come in in the evening, for I am not given to drink and I have
not taken to gambling.'
'Don't,' she said, leaning forward, and speaking earnestly. 'You had as
well throw your money away. I hate seeing men come in here and lose all
they have worked so hard for for weeks; and then it leads to quarrels.
Don't begin it. It is no use telling any one who once has begun that
they had better give it up. They don't seem as if they could do it then,
but if you have never played don't do so.'
'I don't mean to. I have seen enough of it in other camps. Thank you,
miss, all the same for your advice.'
The girl nodded and moved away, and Jacob, having received his list and
instructions, presently joined Ned Hampton and they walked away
together.
The next morning the latter set to work, and was so well satisfied at
the end of two days with the result that he bought a share in the claim.
He took his meals at the saloon and went in for an hour every evening.
The place was at that time so crowded that he had but few opportunities
of exchanging a word with the girl. She generally, however, gave him a
nod as he came up to the bar for his glass of liquor. When he had taken
it he usually strolled round the tables looking at the play. In the
saloon itself it was harmless enough, the miners playing among
themselves for small stakes, but in a room at the back of the saloon it
was different. Here there was no noisy talk or loud discussion. The men
sat or stood round a table at which Monte was being played, the dealer
being a professional gambler, whose attire in ordinary clothes, with a
diamond stud in his broad shirt front, contrasted strongly with the
rough garb of the miners.
No sounds broke the silence here save an occasional muttered oath, an
exclamation of triumph, or a call for liquor. It was seldom that an
evening passed without a serious quarrel here or at the drinking bar.
Twice during the first week of Ned's stay in the camp pistols were
drawn. In one case a man was killed, in the other two were seriously
wounded.
'I should like to see a law passed by the miners themselves,' Ned
Hampton said, as he was talking over the matter with his partners at
their work next day, 'forbidding the carrying of pistols under the
penalty of being turned out of camp; and it should be added that whoever
after the passing of the law drew and fired should be hung.'
'It would be easy enough, pard, to get the law passed by a majority, but
the thing would be to get it carried out. There are four or five men in
this camp as would clear out the hull crowd. The best part of us hates
these rows, and would glad enough be rid of the gang and work peaceably,
but what are you to do when you can't have your own way without running
a risk, and a mighty big one, of getting shot?'
'Ay, that is it,' another said. 'It would need a sheriff and a big posse
to carry it out.'
'Of course, no one man would attempt such a thing,' Ned Hampton said,
'but I believe in some of the camps they have banded together and given
the gamblers and the hard characters notice to quit, and have hung up
those who refused to go. It is monstrous that two or three hundred men
who only want to work peaceably should be terrorised by half-a-dozen
ruffians.'
'It ain't right, mate, I allow as it ain't right, but it is hard to see
what is to be done. There is Wyoming Bill, for example, who came into
the camp last night, cursing and swearing and threatening that he would
put a bullet in any man who refused to drink with him. I expect it were
after you turned in, mate, but he cleared the saloon of the best part as
was there in five minutes. He did not go into the inner room, he knew
better'n that; Joe, the gambler, would have put a bullet into him before
he could wink; so would Ben Hatcher, and two or three of the others
would have tried it. Then he swaggered up to the bar and began to talk
loud to the girl there. Some one told them in the inner room and Ben
Hatcher and Bluff Harry stept out, pistol in hand, and says Ben, "You
had best drop that, Wyoming, and as quick as lightning. It has been
settled in this camp as any one as says a bad word in front of that bar
will be carried out feet foremost, so don't you try it on, or you will
be stuffed with bullets afore you can say knife. I know you and you know
me, and there is half a dozen of us, so if you want to carry on you had
best carry on outside. I tell you once for all." Wyoming Bill weakened
at once, and the thing passed off--but there will be a big muss some
night.'
'I should like to turn the whole lot out,' Ned Hampton said, angrily;
'it could not be done in broad daylight without a regular battle, but we
might tackle them one by one, taking them separately. Ten men might make
this camp habitable.'
'Are you a good shot with the pistol, mate?'
'Yes, I am a good shot, but I don't pretend to be as quick with it as
these professional bullies. Yet I have had to deal with awkward
customers in my time, and would undertake to deal with these fellows if,
as I said, I could get ten men to work with me.'
'Well, there are three of us here besides yourself, and I guess we would
all take a hand in the game. What do you say, mates?'
The other two assented.
'We ought to be able to get seven others,' Jack Armitstead, who was the
most prominent man of the party, said; 'they must be fellows one could
trust; there is Long Ralph and Sam Nicholson and Providence Dick, they
are all quiet chaps and could be trusted to hold their tongues. There
has been a good deal of grumbling lately; there have been ten men killed
here since the camp began, and it is generally allowed as that is too
big an average. It is allus so with these new rushes. Chaps as begins to
feel as they have made other places too hot for them, in general joins
in a new rush. We must be careful who we speak to, for if the fellows
got scent of it some of us would be wiped out afore many hours had
passed, for if it came to shooting, none of us would have a look in with
men like Ben Hatcher or Wyoming Bill.'
'There is no occasion to be in a hurry,' Ned Hampton said; 'we can
afford to wait till they get a little worse, but it would be as well to
begin about it and get the number ready to act together.'
'You would be ready to act as captain if you were elected?' Jack
Armitstead asked.
'Quite ready. I may tell you, though I don't wish it to go farther, that
I have been an officer in the British army, and several times been
engaged in police duty in a troubled country, where I have had to deal
with as hard characters in their way as these men. I have no wish to be
captain at all; I am almost a new chum, and many of you have been a year
on the gold-fields. I shall be quite willing to serve under any one that
may be elected; I have no wish whatever for the command.'
'All right, partner, we will talk it over and fix about who had best be
asked. I guess in two or three days we can make up the number. The boys
were pretty well riled last night at Wyoming's goings on, and if it
hadn't have been that they did not want to make a muss, with that girl
in the saloon, I fancy some of them would not have gone without
shooting.'
The next evening the saloon was emptier than usual; there were but two
or three men at the bar when Ned Hampton, who had finished his supper
early, went over to it. The girl herself, contrary to her custom, came
across to take his order.
'Good evening, miss,' he said; 'I hear you nearly had trouble here again
last night.'
'Very nearly. I cannot think why men here will always pull out pistols;
why don't they stand up and fight as they do at home? It is horrible.
There have been four men killed in the saloon while we have been here. I
thought they would be rough, but I had no idea that it would be like
this.'
'It is not a good place for a woman,' Ned Hampton said, bluntly,
'especially for a young and pretty one. Your father ought to know better
than to bring you here.'
She shrugged her shoulders.
'It pays,' she said, 'and they are never rude to me.'
She turned away.
A moment later Ned Hampton was tapped on the shoulder, and looking round
saw that it was the man who had during the day been pointed out to him
as the redoubted Wyoming Bill.
'Stranger,' he said, 'I want you to understand that any one who speaks
to that young woman has got to talk with me. I am Wyoming Bill, I am. I
have set my mind on her, and it will be safer to tread in a nest of
rattlesnakes than to get my dander up.'
Ned Hampton laughed derisively. 'You hulking giant,' he said, 'if you or
any one else attempts to dictate to me I will kick him out of the
saloon.'
With a howl of fury the man's hand went behind him to his pistol pocket,
but quick as he was Ned Hampton was quicker. Stepping back half a pace
he struck the man with all his force and weight on the point of the
chin, knocking him off his feet on to his back on the floor. An instant
later Ned sprang upon him, and twisted the revolver from his grasp; then
he seized the half stunned and bewildered man by his neck handkerchief,
dragged him to his feet, and thrusting the revolver into his own pocket,
shifted his grasp to the back of the man's neck, ran him down the
saloon, and when he reached the door gave him a kick that sent him
headlong on to his face.
'Now,' he said sternly, as the man, utterly cowed, rose to his feet, 'I
warn you if I find you in camp in the morning I will shoot you at sight
as I would a dog.'
The man moved off muttering blasphemous threats, but holding his hands
to his jaw which had been almost dislocated by the blow, while Ned
returned quietly into the saloon, where the miners crowded round him
congratulating him on having achieved such a triumph over a notorious
bully. Ned was shortly forced to retire, for every one of those present
were insisting on his having a drink with them.
On returning to his tent Ned Hampton found that Jacob had just returned
from his second journey to Sacramento, and they sat chatting over the
events of the trip until it was time to turn in.
'He has gone, Ned,' was Jack Armitstead's greeting when Ned Hampton came
down to his work.
'Gone?' he repeated. 'Who has gone? Not Sinclair surely,' for but two of
his partners had just arrived.
'Sinclair? No. Wyoming Bill has gone--rode off just at daybreak this
morning, with his face tied up in a black handkerchief. They say his jaw
is broken. Well, partner, you have done it and no mistake, and the hull
camp was talking about nothing else last night. The chaps as was there
said they never saw anything like the way you downed him. Why, if this
place was made into a township to-morrow, they would elect you mayor or
sheriff, or anything else you liked, right away.'
'Oh, it was nothing worth talking about,' Ned said carelessly. 'He was
going to draw and I hit out, and as a man's fist goes naturally quicker
from his shoulder than the sharpest man can draw his pistol, of course
he went down. After that he was half stunned and I expect he didn't feel
quite sure that his head wasn't off. A blow on the point of the chin
gives a tremendous shaking up to the strongest man. It was not as if he
was standing balancing on his feet prepared to meet a blow. I consider
it taking an unfair advantage to hit a man like that, but when he is
feeling for his pistol there is no choice in the matter. However, it is
not worth saying anything more about.' And Ned at once set to at his
work.
Nothing further was said on the subject until they stopped for
breakfast, when Jack Armitstead said--
'At any rate, Ned, that affair last night has made it easy for us to get
the men together for the other job. Those I spoke to and told them you
were ready to be our leader just jumped at it, and I could enlist half
the camp on the job if I wanted to.'
'Ten will be enough, Jack. It is a matter that must be kept secret, for
you must remember that though we might clear out the camp of these
fellows without difficulty, we should all be marked men wherever we went
if it were known which of us were concerned in the matter.'
'That is true enough,' Sinclair said. 'It would be as much as any of our
lives were worth to go into any of the other camps where one or two of
these fellows happened to be, if we were known to have been among Judge
Lynch's party.'
Ned Hampton went back to breakfast at the cart, as he always did when
Jacob was there.
'They have been telling me that you thrashed a man awful yesterday
evening,' Jacob began, as he came up. 'I heard some chaps talking about
a fight as I was unloading the goods at the back of the saloon, and I
wondered what was up, but I never thought as you were in it; you did not
say anything about it when we were talking.'
'There was nothing to tell about, Jacob. I knocked down a big bully and
turned him out of the saloon; there was no fighting at all, it was just
one blow and there was an end of it. I am a pretty good boxer, I think I
may say very good; and these fellows, though they are handy enough with
pistols, have not the slightest idea of using their fists. The fellow
has gone off this morning and we shan't hear any more about it.'
After dinner Ned again went into the saloon. As soon as he approached
the bar the girl came across to him.
'Thank you,' she said; 'the men here heard what he said to you, and he
well deserved what you gave him. It was very brave of you, as he was
armed, and you were not.'
'His arms were not of any use to him, miss, as I did not give him time
to use them; besides, bullies of that sort are never formidable when
they are faced.'
Ned felt rather doubtful as to his reception by the other desperadoes of
the camp; but as soon as the girl turned away two of these came up to
him.
'Shake,' one said, holding out his hand; 'you did the right thing last
night. It is well for that white-livered cuss that none of us were here
at the time, or he would have had a bullet in him, sure. It has been an
agreed matter in this 'ere camp, that girl is not to be interfered with
by no one, and that if any one cuts in, in a way that ain't fair and
right, it should be bad for him. She has come among us, and we are all
proud of her, and she has got to be treated like a lady, and Wyoming
Bill was worse nor a fool when he spoke as I heard he did to you. He had
not been here long and did not know our ways or he would not have done
it. We went in and told him last night he'd got to get, or that what you
had given him would not be chucks to what would happen if he was not off
afore daybreak. Let us liquor.'
This was an invitation that could not be refused, and Ned had to go
through the ceremony many times before he could make his retreat. That
evening Sinclair and Jack Armitstead came across to Ned's fire.
'We have got ten men, Ned, who are ready to join us in clearing the
camp, and we are ready to do it in any way you may tell us.'
'I should give them fair warning,' Ned said; 'there are six of them,
including Mason, the gambler, who are at the bottom of all the trouble
here. I will write six notices, warning them that unless they leave the
camp in twelve hours it will be worse for them. I will write them now,
it only wants a few words.'
Each notice was headed by the man's name to whom it was addressed. 'This
is to give you notice that if you are found in this camp after sunset
to-night you do so at your peril.--Signed, Judge Lynch.'
'Now,' Ned said, when he had written the six papers, 'get six sticks
about three feet in length, cut slits at one end and put these papers in
them, and then stick them in the ground in front of these men's tents,
so that they cannot help seeing them when they turn out in the morning.
If they don't take the hint and go we will hold a consultation in the
evening as to the steps to be taken.'
The threatened men were all late risers, and the notices were seen by
other men going to their work, and the news speedily spread through the
camp.
After breakfast Sinclair said to Ned, 'Those fellows have been holding a
sort of council together. I saw them standing in a knot before Bluff
Harry's tent; I expect by dinner time we shall see what they are going
to do. I don't think they will go without a fight. They are all very
hard cases, and Bluff Harry and two or three of the others are clear
grit down to the boots.'
At twelve o'clock it was seen that the tents of the threatened men had
all been taken down and had been erected close together just outside the
limits of the camp.
'That means fighting, clear enough,' Jack Armitstead said, when they
resumed work. 'I expect they have agreed that one shall be always on
watch, and I reckon that the ten of us would not be of much use against
them.'
'I quite agree with you, Jack,' Ned said, 'and I have no idea of
throwing any life away by an open attack upon them. We must bide our
time: for a day or two they will no doubt keep together, but they will
soon get careless and then we can act.'
In the evening the men went to the saloon in a body, and standing at the
bar indulged in much defiant language of Judge Lynch and his party. So
insolent and threatening was their demeanour that the numbers in the
saloon rapidly thinned, quiet men soon making their way back to their
tents. Ned had not gone there; he thought that after what had happened
before, he might be suspected of being concerned in the matter, and that
one of the men might pick a quarrel with him. The next day passed off
quietly. Ned, on his way back from work in the evening, passed as usual
close behind the saloon. As he did so the door was opened and the girl
came out.
'I want to speak to you,' she said. 'Those men were at the bar this
afternoon. They were talking about the warning they had had, and one of
them said he believed that Britisher had something to do with it. The
others seemed to think so too. I don't think your life is safe. Pray do
not come here at present, and keep away from them--but it would be safer
still for you to go to some other place.'
'Thank you for the warning,' Ned said. 'I had not intended to come in
for a day or two. They have no grounds for suspecting me more than any
one else, but I don't want to get into a quarrel with any of them.'
'They are dangerous men,' she said, 'very dangerous. Pray be careful. It
is shameful that things should be like this.'
'We are going to try and make things better,' Ned said, 'but we must
wait till they are a little off their guard.'
'Oh, then you are in it. I thought you would be. Yes, it is dreadful. My
friends were with them at first, but they see now that they drive people
away from the saloon, and they would be glad if the place could be
cleared of them. But pray do not run into any danger.'
'I think I can take care of myself pretty well, miss, and I am not
alone. I think most of the men here are of the same opinion, and will be
glad to see the camp freed of these ruffians.'
'Yes, but not to take a share in doing it. Well, pray be careful. Were
anything to happen to you I should know it was because you had punished
the man who spoke so insultingly about me. You are not like most of the
others; you call me miss, and you try to speak roughly, but I know that
it is not natural to you, and that you have been a gentleman.'
'There are a good many in the camp who have been gentlemen,' he said;
'but it makes no matter what we have been, each man has to work for
himself here and to keep on the common level, and the master is he who
can work hardest and steadiest, or, on the other hand, he who can draw
his pistol the quickest.'
'They are calling me,' the girl exclaimed, as she heard her name shouted
within. 'I must go now,' and she darted back to the door while Ned
walked on carelessly.
'She is certainly marvellously like Dorothy,' he said to himself. 'Her
expression was softer this evening than I have seen it before--that
makes the likeness all the stronger.'
In the evening Ned heard pistol shots in the direction of the saloon,
and a few minutes afterwards Jack Armitstead came up.
'More murder,' he said. 'Ben Hatcher has just shot down two new-comers.
They only arrived this afternoon, and knew nothing of what was going on.
They walked up to the bar and gave an order. Ben Hatcher was standing
there and made some insulting remark to them. They resented it, and he
drew and shot them down at once.'
'You had better bring up the other men,' Ned said. 'We will see if we
cannot take this fellow as he leaves the saloon to-night. Don't bring
them here; the gathering might be noticed; take them forty or fifty
yards behind; then I will join you.'
Ten minutes later Ned took a coil of rope and sauntered off to the spot
he had indicated, where he was presently joined by the ten men.
'It would be useless trying to take this fellow in his tent to-night,'
he said; 'after what has happened they will be certain to keep a good
lookout. We must watch as they leave the saloon. Will you, Armitstead,
go in there now and seat yourself at a table and see what is going on,
and when you see them coming out get out before them, and come and tell
us; we shall be gathered just round the corner.'
'I don't expect they will be long,' Armitstead said. 'There won't be
much play going on to-night after what has happened. Yes, I will go in.'
There were a few men still sitting at the tables when he entered; they
were drinking silently, and watching with scowling faces the group
standing at the bar. He took his seat at the table nearest to the door,
and in the silence of the place could plainly hear what was being said
at the other end.
'I tell you, you were wrong,' Bluff Harry was saying; 'there was no call
to draw. The men were new-comers and meant no harm; it is enough to set
the whole camp agin us. It ain't no use your scowling at me; I ain't
afraid of you and you knows it.'
'Bluff Harry is right, Ben; however, it ain't no use having words atween
friends. We have got to stick together here, and if we does that we can
clear this camp out.'
'I don't care a continental what Bluff Harry or any other man thinks,'
Ben Hatcher said, sulkily. 'I does as I like, without asking leave from
no man; still, I don't want to quarrel, and as some of you seems to want
to make a muss, I will just leave you to yourselves and turn in.' As he
turned to leave the bar, Jack Armitstead slipped out through the door
and ran round the corner.
'He is coming out by himself,' he said; 'you had best get away from
here, for a shout would bring the whole gang upon us.'
Ned led the others down by the side of the saloon, and then out through
the tents. They took their station behind one standing on the verge of
the camp and waited. In two or three minutes a step was heard
approaching. As the man came along, Ned Hampton sprang out and threw
himself upon him; the others at once followed, and the man was thrown on
to the ground, and in spite of his struggles bound and gagged. Then six
of them lifted him on their shoulders, and carried him up into the wood.
The next morning, one of the miners going up to chop some firewood
returned with the news that Ben Hatcher was hanging from a tree. Many
others ran up to verify the statement. On the breast of the dead man was
pinned a paper. 'This man has been tried and found guilty of murder, and
has been hung by my orders--Judge Lynch.'
The feeling in camp was one of general satisfaction. The murders of the
preceding evening had caused general indignation, and threats had been
freely uttered.
Hatcher's companions were among the last to hear what had happened. None
of them, on their return a few minutes after him, had thought of looking
in his tent; the three whose turn it was had each kept three hours'
watch, and had no reason for supposing that anything unusual had
occurred. It was not until eight o'clock, that one looking into Ben
Hatcher's tent discovered that it was untenanted; the others were soon
roused at the news, and Bluff Harry went down into the camp to see if he
had gone down on some errand.
'Have you seen Ben Hatcher?' he asked a miner who was cooking breakfast
for his mates.
'Ay. I have seen him, and I guess pretty near every one in camp has.'
'Where is he?'
'You will find him up in that wood there, close to that big pine, and it
ain't a pleasant sight to look at, I can tell you.'
'Is he dead?'
'I should say so; about as dead as he ever will be.'
Bluff Harry returned to his friends, and they went up in a party to the
wood. Hardy as they were, their faces whitened as they looked at the
swinging body and read the paper.
Not a word was spoken for a minute or two; then Mason, the gambler,
said--
'We had best bury him at once, boys; we can talk it over afterwards.'
Two of the men went down and borrowed picks and shovels. In half-an-hour
they returned to their tents, having finished their task. The meal was
prepared in silence. When they sat down, Mason said--
'Well, boys, I don't know how you take it, but it seems to me that this
is not a healthy place to stop in. We cannot always keep together and
always be on our guard, and they may pick us up one after the other. I
thought when you were talking yesterday about Judge Lynch that you were
away from the mark. He has been to two or three camps where I have been,
and it ain't no manner of good bucking against him. My opinion is, the
sooner we git the better.'
'I am with you,' Bluff Harry agreed. 'If they came to open fighting I
would take a hand to the last, but this secret business don't suit me. I
reckon the game is played out here, and we had better vamoose the ranch
before the worst comes of it.'
The others were of the same opinion. The little tents were pulled down
and their belongings made up into bundles, and before noon each man
shouldered his kit and moved quietly off.