From Sand Hill to Pine | Page 9

loss of his power ez boss, ye see--and ef he could get hold o' them
chaps he'd let the money slide ez long ez they didn't get it. So you've
got a detective on your side that's worth the whole police force of
Californy! Ye never heard anything about Snapshot Harry, did ye?"
asked Bill carelessly, raising his eyes to Brice's eager face.
The young man flushed slightly. "Very little," he said. At the same time
a vision of the pretty girl in the settler's cabin flashed upon him with a
new significance.
"He's more than half white, in some ways," said Bill thoughtfully, "and
they say he lives somewhere about here in a cabin in the bush, with a
crippled sister and her darter, who both swear by him. It mightn't be
hard to find him--ef a man was dead set on it."
Brice faced about with determined eyes. "I'LL DO IT," he said quietly.
"Ye might," said Bill, still more deliberately stroking his beard,
"mention my name, ef ye ever get to see him."
"Your name," ejaculated the astonished Brice.
"My name," repeated Bill calmly. "He knows it's my bounden duty to
kill him ef I get the chance, and I know that he'd plug me full o' holes
in a minit ef thar war a necessity for it. But in these yer affairs, sonny,
it seems to be the understood thing by the kempany that I'm to keep
fiery young squirts like you, and chuckle-headed passengers like
them"--jerking his thumb towards the other room-- "from gettin'
themselves killed by their rashness. So ontil the kempany fill the top o'
that coach with men who ain't got any business to do BUT fightin' other
men who ain't got any other business to do BUT to fight them--the odds
are agin us! Harry has always acted square to me--that's how I know he
ain't in this sneak-thief business, and why he didn't foller us, suspectin'
suthin', and I've always acted square to him. All the same, I'd like ter
hev seen his face when that box was opened! Lordy!" Here Bill again
collapsed in his silent paroxysm of mirth. "Ye might tell him how I

laughed!"
"I would hardly do that, Bill," said the young man, smiling in spite of
himself. "But you've given me an idea, and I'll work it out."
Bill glanced at the young fellow's kindling eyes and flushing cheek, and
nodded. "Well, rastle with that idea later on, sonny. I'll fix you all right
in my report to the kempany, but the rest you must work alone. I've
started out the usual posse, circus- ridin' down the road after Harry.
He'd be a rough customer to meet just now," continued Bill, with a
chuckle, "ef thar was the ghost of a chance o' them comin' up with him,
for him and his gang is scattered miles away by this." He paused,
tossed off another glass of whiskey, wiped his mouth, and saying to
Brice, with a wink, "It's about time to go and comfort them thar
passengers," led the way through the crowded barroom into the stage
office.
The spectacle of Bill's humorously satisfied face and Brice's bright eyes
and heightened color was singularly effective. The "inside" passengers,
who had experienced neither the excitement nor the danger of the
robbery, yet had been obliged to listen to the hairbreadth escapes of the
others, pooh-poohed the whole affair, and even the "outsides"
themselves were at last convinced that the robbery was a slight one,
with little or no loss to the company. The clamor subsided almost as
suddenly as it had arisen; the wiser passengers fashioned their attitude
on the sang-froid of Yuba Bill, and the whole coach load presently
rolled away as complacently as if nothing had happened.
II
The robbery furnished the usual amount of copy for the local press.
There was the inevitable compliment to Yuba Bill for his well-known
coolness; the conduct of the young expressman, "who, though new to
the service, displayed an intrepidity that only succumbed to numbers,"
was highly commended, and even the passengers received their meed
of praise, not forgetting the lady, "who accepted the incident with the
light-hearted pleasantry characteristic of the Californian woman."
There was the usual allusion to the necessity of a Vigilance Committee
to cope with this "organized lawlessness" but it is to be feared that the
readers of "The Red Dog Clarion," however ready to lynch a horse thief,
were of the opinion that rich stage express companies were quite able
to take care of their own property.

It was with full cognizance of these facts and their uselessness to him
that the next morning Mr. Ned Brice turned from the road where the
coach had just halted on the previous night and approached the