"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.Iwill 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,Iconfess,also availed myself of the innocent kindness of one of that charming and justly exempted ***."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.Ireckon 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 mercifully benumb his senses;twilight had fallen and the talk had ceased.The lady had allowed her book to drop in her lap as the darkness gathered,and had closed her eyes;he closed his own,and slipped away presently into a dream,in which he saw the profile again as he had seen it in the darkness of the hollow,only that this time it changed to a full face,unlike the lady's or any one he had ever seen.Then the window seemed to open with a rattle,and he again felt the cool odors of the forest;but he awoke to find that the lady had only opened her window for a breath of fresh air.It was nearly eight o'clock;it would be an hour yet before the coach stopped at the next station for supper;the passengers were drowsily nodding;he closed his eyes and fell into a deeper sleep,from which he awoke with a start.
The coach had stopped!