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"Damn McTurpin!" spoke the third voice. It was Nathan Spear's. "Light your lamp. Nobody's going to shoot you, Stanley.... It's young Benito from the mines and down with fever. He's calling for you ... and for a girl named Alice.... If you can pacify him that will help a lot. He's pretty low." "Wait," said Adrian, hurriedly. He relighted the lamp and, going to the inner door, called softly.
"Well, you can walk back to the hotel, my lady," said McTurpin. "I have little time to waste. And there's Benito to consider," he concluded. Suddenly he put an arm about her waist and kissed her. Inez thought of her brother and tried to submit. But she could not repress a little cry of aversion, of fear. The bearded man stepped forward. "Hold up a bit, partner," he drawled.
McTurpin threw his cards upon the table. Between him and a man across the board flashed a swift, unspoken message. "I'm at your service, Mr. ah Stanley." He led the way out, and Adrian following, gave a quick glance backward, noting that the man across the table had arisen. What he did not see was that Spear hovered in the offing, following them with watchful eyes.
They seemed puzzled by the darkness. Out of it the host's voice spoke: "Who are you? What do you wish?" William Henry Brown was first to answer him. "We want you, Adrian, at the hotel. Can you come now quickly?" "What for?" he asked suspiciously. "Who sent you here?" "Nobody," came the cheery voice of Dr. Jones. "There's a friend of yours at Brown's who needs you." "You mean McTurpin?
What if I should take it all? Where would you go? You, the proud Senora and the shiftless young Benito?" The Senorita Inez' lips curled. "When my father comes he will know how to answer you," she told him, hotly. "If he were alive he would have come long since," McTurpin answered. "Many perish on the northern trails." He took a step toward her.
But he did not find the men he sought, until the last curtain was thrown back. There sat Gasket and McTurpin opposite Ensenada Rose. She looked up impudently as Adrian entered. Into the gambler's visage sprang a quick surprise and fear. Instantly he blew out the lamp. A pistol spoke savagely almost in Adrian's face. He staggered, clasping one hand to his head.
"And how will they go about it, with no prison-house, no courts or judges?" asked Inez, wonderingly. "Oh, those will soon be provided," he assured, "When there is a will for law the machinery comes." He smiled grimly. "McTurpin and his ilk had better look to themselves.... We are going after the gamblers." San Francisco never could remember when the first rumor of gold reached it.
But McTurpin did not stir. "It is the law of nations," he declared, "no use denying it, Miss Windham." "Why did you come to tell me this? To torture me?" "To save you and your brother?" "How?" she asked fiercely. "I have influence with Alcalde Bartlett." The gambler smiled. "He owes me more than he can pay.
"On this occasion," Stanley said, "you'll take the time to note the following facts, Mr. McTurpin, Mr. Pillsworth or whatever your true name may be I've had a talk with Dandy Carter. He recognized you and Gasket when Burthen was killed, in spite of your beard. So did Rosa, of course, though she skipped the next morning. The Burthen girl is at my house."
"This doesn't look quite regular. Don't you wish to marry him, young lady?" "Of course she does," McTurpin blustered. "She rode all the way in from her mother's ranch to be my wife." He glared at Inez. "Isn't it true?" he flung at her. "Tell him." She nodded her head miserably. But the stranger was not satisfied.
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