see his fair unknown start at the apparition of this second horseman
and unmistakably convey some signal to him,--a signal that to Key's
fancy now betrayed some warning of himself. He was the more convinced
as the stranger, after continuing a few paces ahead of the coach,
allowed it to pass him at a curve of the road, and slackened his pace
to permit Key to do the same. Instinctively conscious that the
stranger's object was to scrutinize or identify him, he determined to
take the initiative, and fixed his eyes upon him as they approached.
But the stranger, who wore a loose brown linen duster over clothes that
appeared to be superior in fashion and material, also had part of his
face and head draped by a white silk handkerchief worn under his hat,
ostensibly to keep the sun and dust from his head and neck,--and had
the advantage of him. He only caught the flash of a pair of steel-gray
eyes, as the newcomer, apparently having satisfied himself, gave rein
to his spirited steed and easily repassed the coach, disappearing in a
cloud of dust before it. But Key had by this time reached the
"cut-off," which the stranger, if he intended to follow the coach,
either disdained or was ignorant of, and he urged his horse to its
utmost speed. Even with the stranger's advantages it would be a close
race to the station.
Nevertheless, as he dashed on, he was by no means insensible to the
somewhat quixotic nature of his undertaking. If he was right in his
suspicion that a signal had been given by the lady to the stranger, it
was exceedingly probable that he had discovered not only the fair
inmate of the robbers' den, but one of the gang itself, or at least a
confederate and ally. Yet far from deterring him, in that ingenious
sophistry with which he was apt to treat his romance, he now looked
upon his adventure as a practical pursuit in the interests of law and
justice. It was true that it was said that the band of road agents had
been dispersed; it was a fact that there had been no spoliation of
coach or teams for three weeks; but none of the depredators had ever
been caught, and their booty, which was considerable, was known to be
still intact. It was to the interest of the mine, his partners, and
his workmen that this clue to a danger which threatened the locality
should be followed to the end. As to the lady, in spite of the
disappointment that still rankled in his breast, he could be
magnanimous! She might be the paramour of the strange horseman, she
might be only escaping from some hateful companionship by his aid. And
yet one thing puzzled him: she was evidently not acquainted with the
personality of the active gang, for she had, without doubt, at first
mistaken HIM for one of them, and after recognizing her real accomplice
had communicated her mistake to him.
It was a great relief to him when the rough and tangled "cut-off" at
last broadened and lightened into the turnpike road again, and he
beheld, scarcely a quarter of a mile before him, the dust cloud that
overhung the coach as it drew up at the lonely wayside station. He was
in time, for he knew that the horses were changed there; but a sudden
fear that the fair unknown might alight, or take some other conveyance,
made him still spur his jaded steed forward. As he neared the station
he glanced eagerly around for the other horseman, but he was nowhere to
be seen. He had evidently either abandoned the chase or ridden ahead.
It seemed equally a part of what he believed was a providential
intercession, that on arriving at the station he found there was a
vacant seat inside the coach. It was diagonally opposite that occupied
by the lady, and he was thus enabled to study her face as it was bent
over her book, whose pages, however, she scarcely turned. After her
first casual glance of curiosity at the new passenger, she seemed to
take no more notice of him, and Key began to wonder if he had not
mistaken her previous interrogating look. Nor was it his only
disturbing query; he was conscious of the same disappointment now that
he could examine her face more attentively, as in his first cursory
glance. She was certainly handsome; if there was no longer the
freshness of youth, there was still the indefinable charm of the woman
of thirty, and with it the delicate curves of matured muliebrity and
repose. There were lines, particularly around the mouth and fringed
eyelids, that were deepened as by pain; and the chin, even in its
rounded fullness, had the angle of determination. From what was
visible, below the brown linen duster that she wore, she appeared to be
tastefully although not richly dressed.
As the coach at last drove away from the station, a grizzled,
farmer-looking man seated beside her uttered a sigh of relief, so
palpable as to attract the general attention. Turning to his fair
neighbor with a smile of uncouth but good-humored apology, he said in
explanation:--
"You'll excuse me, miss! I don't know ezactly how YOU'RE feelin',--for
judging from your looks and gin'ral gait, you're a stranger in these
parts,--but ez for ME, I don't mind sayin' that I never feel ezactly
safe from these yer road agents and stage robbers ontil arter we pass
Skinner's station. All along thet Galloper's Ridge it's jest tech and
go like; the woods is swarmin' with 'em. But once past Skinner's,
you're all right. They never dare go below that. So ef you don't
mind, miss, for it's bein' in your presence, I'll jest pull off my
butes and ease my feet for a spell."
Neither the inconsequence of this singular request, nor the smile it
evoked on the faces of the other passengers, seemed to disturb the
lady's abstraction. Scarcely lifting her eyes from her book, she bowed
a grave assent.
"You see, miss," he continued, "and you gents," he added, taking the
whole coach into his confidence, "I've got over forty ounces of clean
gold dust in them butes, between the upper and lower sole,--and it's
mighty tight packing for my feet. Ye kin heft it," he said, as he
removed one boot and held it up before them. "I put the dust there for
safety--kalkilatin' that while these road gentry allus goes for a man's
pockets and his body belt, they never thinks of his butes, or haven't
time to go through 'em." He looked around him with a smile of
self-satisfaction.
The murmur of admiring comment was, however, broken by a burly-bearded
miner who sat in the middle seat. "Thet's pretty fair, as far as it
goes," he said smilingly, "but I reckon it wouldn't go far ef you
started to run. I've got a simpler game than that, gentlemen, and ez
we're all friends here, and the danger's over, I don't mind tellin' ye.
The first thing these yer road agents do, after they've covered the
driver with their shot guns, is to make the passengers get out and hold
up their hands. That, ma'am,"--explanatorily to the lady, who betrayed
only a languid interest,--"is to keep 'em from drawing their revolvers.
A revolver is the last thing a road agent wants, either in a man's hand
or in his holster. So I sez to myself, 'Ef a six-shooter ain't of no
account, wet's the use of carryin' it?' So I just put my shooting-iron
in my valise when I travel, and fill my holster with my gold dust, so!
It's a deuced sight heavier than a revolver, but they don't feel its
weight, and don't keer to come nigh it. And I've been 'held up' twice
on t'other side of the Divide this year, and I passed free every time!"
The applause that followed this revelation and the exhibition of the
holster not only threw the farmer's exploits into the shade, but seemed
to excite an emulation among the passengers. Other methods of securing
their property were freely discussed; but the excitement culminated in
the leaning forward of a passenger who had, up to that moment,
maintained a reserve almost equal to the fair unknown. His dress and
general appearance were those of a professional man; his voice and
manner corroborated the presumption.
"I don't think, gentlemen," he began with a pleasant smile, "that any
man of us here would like to be called a coward; but in fighting with
an enemy who never attacks, or even appears, except with a deliberately
prepared advantage on his side, it is my opinion that a man is not only
justified in avoiding an unequal encounter with him, but in
circumventing by every means the object of his attack. You have all
been frank in telling your methods. I will be equally so in telling
mine, even if I have perhaps to confess to a little more than you have;
for I have not only availed myself of a well-known rule of the robbers
who infest these mountains, to exempt all women and children from their
spoliation,--a rule which, of course, they perfectly understand gives
them a sentimental consideration with all Californians,--but I have, I
confess, also availed myself of the innocent kindness of one of that
charming and justly exempted sex." He paused and bowed courteously to
the fair unknown. "When I entered this coach I had with me a bulky
parcel which was manifestly too large for my pockets, yet as evidently
too small and too valuable to be intrusted to the ordinary luggage.
Seeing my difficulty, our charming companion opposite, out of the very
kindness and innocence of her heart, offered to make a place for it in
her satchel, which was not full. I accepted the offer joyfully. When
I state to you, gentlemen, that that package contained valuable
government bonds to a considerable amount, I do so, not to claim your
praise for any originality of my own, but to make this public avowal to
our fair fellow passenger for securing to me this most perfect security
and immunity from the road agent that has been yet recorded."
With his eyes riveted on the lady's face, Key saw a faint color rise to
her otherwise impassive face, which might have been called out by the
enthusiastic praise that followed the lawyer's confession. But he was
painfully conscious of what now seemed to him a monstrous situation!
Here was, he believed, the actual accomplice of the road agents calmly
receiving the complacent and puerile confessions of the men who were
seeking to outwit them. Could he, in ordinary justice to them, to
himself, or the mission he conceived he was pursuing, refrain from
exposing her, or warning them privately? But was he certain? Was a
vague remembrance of a profile momentarily seen--and, as he must even
now admit, inconsistent with the full face he was gazing at--sufficient
for such an accusation? More than that, was the protection she had
apparently afforded the lawyer consistent with the function of an
accomplice!
"Then if the danger's over," said the lady gently, reaching down to
draw her satchel from under the seat, "I suppose I may return it to
you."
"By no means! Don't trouble yourself! Pray allow me to still remain
your debtor,--at least as far as the next station," said the lawyer
gallantly.
The lady uttered a languid sigh, sank back in her seat, and calmly
settled herself to the perusal of her book. Key felt his cheeks
beginning to burn with the embarrassment and shame of his evident
misconception. And here he was on his way to Marysville, to follow a
woman for whom he felt he no longer cared, and for whose pursuit he had
no longer the excuse of justice.
"Then I understand that you have twice seen these road agents," said
the professional man, turning to the miner. "Of course, you could be
able to identify them?"
"Nary a man! You see they're all masked, and only one of 'em ever
speaks."
"The leader or chief?"
"No, the orator."
"The orator?" repeated the professional man in amazement.
"Well, you see, I call him the orator, for he's mighty glib with his
tongue, and reels off all he has to say like as if he had it by heart.
He's mighty rough on you, too, sometimes, for all his high-toned style.
Ef he thinks a man is hidin' anything he jest scalps him with his
tongue, and blamed if I don't think he likes the chance of doin' it.
He's got a regular set speech, and he's bound to go through it all,
even if he makes everything wait, and runs the risk of capture. Yet he
ain't the chief,--and even I've heard folks say ain't got any
responsibility if he is took, for he don't tech anybody or anybody's
money, and couldn't be prosecuted. I reckon he's some sort of a
broken-down lawyer--d'ye see?"
"Not much of a lawyer, I imagine," said the professional man, smiling,
"for he'll find himself quite mistaken as to his share of
responsibility. But it's a rather clever way of concealing the
identity of the real leader."
"It's the smartest gang that was ever started in the Sierras. They
fooled the sheriff of Sierra the other day. They gave him a sort of
idea that they had a kind of hidin'-place in the woods whar they met
and kept their booty, and, by jinks! he goes down thar with his hull
posse,--just spilin' for a fight,--and only lights upon a gang of
innocent greenhorns, who were boring for silver on the very spot where
he allowed the robbers had their den! He ain't held up his head since."
Key cast a quick glance at the lady to see the effect of this
revelation. But her face--if the same profile he had seen at the
window--betrayed neither concern nor curiosity. He let his eyes drop
to the smart boot that peeped from below her gown, and the thought of
his trying to identify it with the slipper he had picked up seemed to
him as ridiculous as his other misconceptions. He sank back gloomily
in his seat; by degrees the fatigue and excitement of the day began to
