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Hallock's gaunt face, with the loose lips and the straggling, unkempt beard, was a blank; and the worst wreck of the three which promptly followed the introduction of the new rules, was noted in his reports with the calm indifference with which he might have jotted down the breakage of a section foreman's spike-maul.
He will leave my girl alone. She knows my wishes, and will shall obey me. I don't care a curse about him or his affairs. But I want his money, and if you will only see to your diabolical temper, I'll we'll have it. Your share stands good in this as in all other deals." It was the foreman's turn to laugh. But there was no mirth in it. It stopped as suddenly as it began, cut off short.
The hold-up man turned away with a feeling of genuine admiration, for he had seen Slevin, under the very nose of the lookout, "go south" with a substantial amount of gold. The foreman's daring and dexterity amazed Bill and deepened his respect. Slevin's work was cunning, and yet so simple as to be almost laughable.
He was a loquacious fellow, knowing the country well, wherefore pleasant to ride alongside of, and the hours passed quickly, hearing him relate his life. And when after two days' riding Joseph wearied of his foreman's many various relations, his eyes admired the slopes, now greener than they would be again till another year passed.
The old man's head was poised alertly for a second; then he turned swiftly in the foreman's direction. "Hah! that you, Jake?" He nodded as he spoke, and then turned back to the other. The blind man's instinct seemed something more than human. "Eh? Your father murdered, boy?" Marbolt questioned, without the least softening of tone. "Murdered?" Archie gulped down his rising emotion.
"Sit down, my lads, anywhere. How many are we? Only six all told? Who's hurt?" "Oh, I'm all right, captain," said the foreman; "only a bit of a cut." "Only a bit of a cut!" said my father. "Here, hold your arm." My father drew out a bandage from his pocket, and tied up the foreman's arm, and he had no sooner done this than another man offered himself to be bandaged.
His conviction was made a certainty later when the blacksmith at Gunnison identified the shoe as one that he had made for and attached to the left hind foot of the deposed foreman's horse. The chain of evidence was complete and conclusive.
The morning after his conversation with Miss Messiter, McWilliams was washing in the foreman's room when the triangle beat the call for breakfast, and he heard the cook's raucous "Come and get it." There was the usual stampede for the tent, and a minute later Mac flung back the flap and entered.
By the time the sun was beginning to gild the summit of old Granite Mountain's castle-like walls, and touch with glorious color the peaks of the neighboring sentinel hills, the last rider had saddled, and the company was mounted and ready for their foreman's word.
It seemed, for a moment, as if the alcalde could not ask the fateful questions; but, at last, his tight-drawn lips parted. "Gentlemen of the jury, are you ready to render your verdict?" he asked. "We are ready," answered the foreman. "Gentlemen of the jury, you may state your verdict." The foreman's eyes faltered and turned from the faces of the prisoners.
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