Three minutes later the two came in sight of poor Ki Sing, chafing inhis forced captivity and making ineffectual attempts to release himselffrom his confinement.
"That's he, sure enough," exclaimed Jake Bradley, excited. "The poorfellow's regularly treed."
The Chinaman had not yet seen the approach of his friends, for hehappened to be looking in another direction.
"Ki Sing!" called Ben.
An expression of relief and joy overspread the countenance of theunfortunate captive when he saw our hero and Bradley.
"How came you here, Ki Sing?" asked Bradley. "Did you tie yourself tothe tree?"
"No, no," replied the Chinaman, earnestly. "Velly bad men tie Ki Sing."
"How many of them bad men were there?" queried Bradley.
"Two."
"That's one apiece for us, Ben," said Bradley. "There a job ahead forus."
At the same time he busied himself in cutting the cord that confined thepoor Chinaman to the tree, and Ki Sing, with an expression of greatrelief and contentment, stretched his limbs and chafed his wrists andankles, which were sore from the cutting of the cord.
"Now, Ki Sing, tell us a little more about them men. What did they looklike?"
The Chinaman, in the best English he had at command, described the twomen who had perpetrated the outrage.
"Did you hear either of them call the other by name?" inquired Bradley.
"One Billee; the other Tommee," answered Ki Sing, who remembered the wayin which they addressed each other.
"Why, those are the names of the men who stole our horses!" said Ben, insurprise.
"That's so!" exclaimed Bradley, in excitement. "It would be just likethem scamps to tie up a poor fellow like Ki Sing.--I say, Ki, did themfellows have horses?"
"Yes," answered the Chinaman.
"I believe they're the very fellows," cried Bradley. "I hope they are,for there's a chance of overhauling them.--Why did they tie you, KiSing?"
Ki Sing explained that they had tried to induce him to guide them toRichard Dewey's cabin, but that he was sure they wanted to steal hisgold, and he had led them astray.
"That's the sort of fellow Ki Sing is," said Bradley, nodding to Ben;"you see, he wouldn't betray his master."
"So they tie me to tlee," continued the poor fellow. "I thought I stayhere all night."
"You didn't take us into the account, Ki Sing. When these scoundrelsleft you where did they go?"
Ki Sing pointed.
"And you think they went in search of the cabin?"
"Yes--they say so."
"Did they know we were there--Ben and I?"
"No; me only say Dickee Dewey."
"Did you say that Dewey was sick?"
"Yes."
"It is clear," said Bradley, turning to Ben, "that them rascals werebent on mischief. From what Ki Sing told them they concluded that Deweywould be unable to resist them, and that they would have a soft thingstealing his gold-dust."
"They may have found the cabin and be at work there now," suggested Ben.
"So they may," answered Bradley, hastily. "What a fool I am to bechattering here when Dick may be in danger!--Stir your stumps, Ki Sing.We're goin' back to the cabin as fast as our legs can carry us. I onlyhope we'll be in time to catch the scoundrels."
Not without anxiety the three friends retraced their steps toward thelittle mountain-hut which was at present their only home.
CHAPTER VIII.
TURNING THE TABLES.
When the three friends came in view of the cabin, the first sight whichattracted their attention was the two mustangs, who stood, in patientenjoyment of the rest they so much needed, just outside. Their unlawfulowners, as we know, were engaged inside in searching for gold-dust,without the slightest apprehension or expectation of interference.
"That's my mustang," exclaimed Bradley in a tone of suppressedexcitement. "I never looked to lay eyes on him again, but, thank theLord! the thief has walked into a trap which I didn't set for him. We'llhave a reckoning, and that pretty soon."
"How do you know it's your mustang?" asked Ben.
"There's a white spot on the left flank. The other one's yours: I knowit by his make, though I can't lay hold of any sign. Even if I didn'tknow him, his bein' in company with mine makes it stand to reason thatit belongs to you."
"I shall be glad to have it again," said Ben, "but we may have a tusslefor them."
"I'm ready," said Jake Bradley, grimly.
By this time they had come to a halt to consider the situation.
"I don't hear anything," said Bradley, listening intently. "I expect theskunks must be inside. Pray Heaven they haven't harmed poor Dewey!"
Just then Dewey's voice was heard, and they were so near that they coulddistinguish his words.
"Well, gentlemen," he said, "how are you getting on? Have you foundanything yet?"
"No, curse it!" responded Mosely. "Suppose you give us a hint."
"Thank you, but I don't see how that's going to benefit me. If you findthe money you mean to take it, don't you?"
"I should say so," answered Tom Hadley, frankly.
Richard Dewey smiled. "I commend your frankness," he said. "Well, youcan't expect a man to assist in robbing himself, can you?"
"You're mighty cool," growled Bill Mosely.
"On the contrary, my indignation is very warm, I assure you."
"Look here, Dewey," said Mosely, pausing: "I'm goin' to make you aproposition."
"Go on."
"Of course we shall find this gold-dust of yours, but it's rather hardand troublesome work; so I'll tell you what we'll do. If you'll tell uswhere to find it, we'll leave a third of it for you. That'll be square,won't it? One part for me, one for my pard, and one for you? What do yousay?"
"That you are very kind to allow me a third of what belongs wholly tome. But even if I should think this a profitable arrangement to enterinto, how am I to feel secure against your carrying off all of thetreasure?"
"You can trust to the honor of a gentleman," laid Mr. William Mosely,pompously.
"Meaning you?" asked Dewey, with a laugh.
"Meaning me, of course, and when perhaps for myself, perhaps for my pardalso--eh, Tom?"
"I should say so, Bill."
"I've heard there's honor among thieves," said Dewey, smiling, "and thisappears to be an illustration of it. Well, gentlemen, I'm sorry to say Idon't feel that confidence in your honor or your word which wouldjustify me in accepting your kind proposal."
"Do you doubt my word?" blustered Mosely.
"I feel no doubt on the subject," answered Dewey.
"I accept your apology," said Mosely; "it's lucky you made it. Me and myfriend don't stand no insults. We don't take no back talk. We're bad menwhen we get into a scrimmage--eh, Tom?"
"I don't doubt your word in the least," said Dewey. "It gives mepleasure to assent cordially to the description you give of yourselves."
Tom Hadley, who was rather obtuse, took this as a compliment, but Moselywas not altogether clear whether Dewey was not chaffing them. "Thatsounds all right," said he, suspiciously, "if you mean it."
"Oh, set your mind quite at rest on that subject, Bill, if that is yourname. You may be sure that I mean everything I say."
"Then you won't give us a hint where to dig?"
"I am sorry to disoblige you, but I really couldn't."
"Do you hear that, Ben?" said Jake Bradley, his mouth distended with agrin. "Dick's chaffin' them scoundrels, and they can't see it. It looksas if they was huntin' for the gold-dust. They haven't found anythingyet, and they haven't hurt Dick, or he wouldn't talk as cool as hedoes."
There was a brief conference, and then the first movement was made bythe besieging-party.
Ki Sing, by Bradley's direction, walked to the entrance of the hut andlooked placidly in.
As Mosely looked up he saw the Chinaman's face looking like a full moon,and for an instant he was stupefied. He could not conceive how hisvictim could have escaped from hi
s captivity.
"Tom," he ejaculated, pointing to the doorway, "look there!"
"I should say so!" ejaculated Tom Hadley, no less surprised than hisfriend.
"How did you get here?" demanded Bill Mosely, addressing the Chinaman.
"Me walk up hill," answered Ki Sing, with a bland smile.
"How did you get away from the tree? That's what I mean, you stupid."
"Fliend come along--cut stling," answered the Chinaman, pronouncing hiswords in Mongolian fashion.
Bill Mosely was startled. So Ki Sing had a friend. Was the friend withhim? "Where is your friend?" he asked abruptly.
"That my fliend," said the crafty Ki Sing, pointing to his master on thepallet in the corner.
"Yes, Ki Sing," said Dewey, "we are friends and will remain so, my goodfellow."
Though he did not quite understand why Ben and Jake Bradley did notpresent themselves, he felt sure that they were close at hand, and thathis unwelcome visitors would very soon find it getting hot for them.
"Look here, you yellow baboon!" said Bill Mosely, angrily, "you knowwhat I mean. This man here didn't free you from the tree. Anyway, youwere a fool to come back. Do you know what I am going to do with you?"
Ki Sing shook his head placidly.
"I am going to tie you hand and foot and roll you down hill. You'dbetter have stayed where you were."
"No want loll down hillee," said the Chinaman, without, however,betraying any fear.
"I sha'n't ask whether you like it or not. But stop! Perhaps you canhelp us. Do you know where the gold-dust is?"
"Yes," answered Ki Sing.
Bill Mosely's face lighted up with pleasure. He thought he saw the wayout of his difficulty.
"That's the very thing!" he cried, turning to his partner--"eh, Tom?"
"I should say so, Bill."
"Just show us where it is, and we won't do you any harm."
"If my fliend, Dickee Dewee, tell me to, I will," said Ki Sing.
Dewey, thus appealed to, said, "No, Ki Sing; they only want to rob me,and I am not willing to have you show them."
"You'd better shut up, Dewey," said Mosely, insolently; "you're a deadduck, and you're only gettin' this foolish heathen into trouble. We'vegot tired of waitin' 'round here, and--"
"I am ready to excuse you any time," said Dewey. "Don't stay on myaccount, I beg. In fact, the sooner you leave the better it will pleaseme."
Bill Mosely, who didn't fancy Dewey's sarcasm, frowned fiercely andturned again to Ki Sing. "Will you show us or not?" he demanded.
"Velly solly," said Ki Sing, with a childish smile, "but Dickee Deweewon't let me."
With an oath Mosely sprang to the doorway and tried to clutch theChinaman, when the latter slid to one side and Jake Bradley confrontedhim.
"You'd better begin with me, Bill Mosely," he said.
CHAPTER IX.
BRADLEY'S SIGNAL VICTORY.
Bill Mosely started back as if he had seen a rattlesnake, and stared atJake Bradley in mingled surprise and dismay.
"You didn't expect to see me, I reckon?" said Bradley, dryly.
Mosely still stared at him, uncertain what to say or what to do.
"I take it very kind of you to bring back the hosses you borrowed a fewweeks since. You took 'em rather sudden, without askin' leave; it was akind of oversight on your part."
"I don't know what you mean," answered Mosely, determined to brazen itout and keep the horses if possible, for he was lazy and a pedestriantramp would not have suited him very well.
"You know what I mean well enough, Bill Mosely. If you don't, themmustangs outside may refresh your recollection. They look kinder faggedout. You've worked 'em too hard, Mosely."
"Those mustangs are ours. We bought 'em," said Mosely, boldly.--"Didn'twe, Tom?"
"I should say so," remarked Hadley, with striking originality.
"That's a lie, Tom," remarked Bradley, calmly, "and you know it as wellas I do."
"Are we goin' to stand that, Tom?" blustered Mosely, whose courage wasbeginning to revive, as he had thus far only seen Bradley, andconsidered that the odds were two to one in his favor. Of course theChinaman counted for nothing.
Tom Hadley looked a little doubtful, for he could see that the enemy,though apparently single-handed, was a man of powerful frame andapparently fearless even to recklessness. He had a strong suspicion thatBill Mosely was a coward and would afford him very little assistance inthe event of a scrimmage.
"If you can't stand it," said Bradley, "sit down, if you want to."
Thus far, Richard Dewey had remained silent, but he wished toparticipate in the defence of their property if there should be need,and of course must be released first.
"Jake," said he, "these fellows have tied me hand and foot. Theycouldn't have done it if I had not been partially disabled. Send in KiSing to cut the cords."
"They dared to tie you?" said Bradley, sternly.--"Mosely, what was thatfor?"
"To remove one obstacle in the way of plunder," Dewey answered for them.
"They're not only hoss-thieves, but thieves through and through. Sincethey tied you, they must untie you.--Mosely, go and cut the cords."
"I am not a slave to be ordered round," returned Mosely, haughtily.
"What are you, then?"
"A gentleman."
"Then you'll be a dead gentleman in less than a minute if you don't doas I tell you."
As he spoke he drew out his revolver and levelled it at Mosely.
The latter turned pale. "Don't handle that we'pon so careless,stranger," he said. "It might go off."
"So it might--as like as not," answered Bradley, calmly.
"Put it up," said Mosely, nervously.--"Tom, just cut them cords."
"Tom, you needn't do it.--Mosely, you're the man for that duty. Do youhear?"
Bill Mosely hesitated. He didn't like to yield and be humiliated beforethe man over whom he had retained so long an ascendency.
"You'd better be quick about it," said Bradley, warningly. "This herewe'pon goes off terrible easily. I don't want to shoot you, but theremight be an accident. I've killed twenty-one men with it already. You'llbe the twenty-second."
That was hint enough. Pride gave way, and Bill Mosely knelt down and cutthe cords which confined Dewey, and the invalid, with a sense of relief,sat up on his pallet and watched the conference.
"There! are you satisfied?" asked Mosely, sullenly.
"It'll do as far as it goes, Mosely," said Bradley. "I wouldn't adviseyou to try any more of them tricks."
He lowered his weapon, and was about to replace it, when Mosely, who hadmade a secret sign to his companion, sprang forward simultaneously withTom Hadley and seized the intrepid Bradley.
The attack was sudden, and also unexpected, for Bradley had such acontempt for the prowess of William Mosely that he had not supposed himcapable of planning or carrying out so bold an attack. It must beadmitted that he was taken at disadvantage, and might have beentemporarily overpowered, for Tom Hadley was strong, and Mosely, though acoward, was nerved by desperation.
Richard Dewey saw his friend's danger, but, unhappily, he had no weaponat hand.
But help was not long in coming.
Concealed by the walls of the cabin, Ben had heard all that had beensaid, and observed the attack upon his comrade.
He did not hesitate a moment, but sprang forward and showed himself atBradley's side.
"Let him go, or I'll shoot," he exclaimed in a tone of command, pointingat Mosely the twin brother of the revolver which Bradley owned.
"Confusion!" ejaculated Mosely, in fresh dismay.
"Let go," repeated Ben, firmly.
Bill Mosely released Bradley, and the latter threw off the grasp of TomHadley.
"Now," said he, as standing side by side with Ben he confronted the twothieves, "shall we shoot?"
"No, no," said Mosely, nervously.
"Serve you right if we did. So you thought you'd got me, did you? Youdidn't know about Ben, there. H
e ain't half your size, but he's gottwice the courage.--Ben, what shall we do with them?"
Bill Mosely turned toward Ben, anxious to hear what our hero would say.He was entirely in the power of the two friends, as he realized.
"Serve them as they served Ki Sing," suggested Ben.
"That's a good idea, that is!--Here, you two rascals, trot out here."
Following directions, the two men emerged from the cabin and stood onone side of the doorway, feeling that they would gladly be in some otherpart of California at that precise moment.
"Mosely, do you see that tree?"
"Yes."
"Go to it."
Bill Mosely slowly and unwillingly proceeded to do as he was told.
"Ki Sing," said Jake Bradley to the Chinaman, who was standing near athand, his face wearing a bland and contented smile, "have you any cordin your pocket?"
"Yes," answered the Celestial.
"Tie that man to the tree."
Ki Sing approached to follow instructions, when Bill Mosely shouted,"I'll brain you, you yaller heathen, if you dare to touch me!"
"Just as you say, squire," said Bradley, nonchalantly raising hisrevolver; "if you'd prefer to be shot I'm a very accommodatin' man, andI'll oblige you. I guess it'll be better, as we'll save all trouble."
"Stop! stop!" cried Mosely, in dismay. "He can tie me."
"You've changed your mind. I thought you would," said Bradley.--"KiSing, go ahead."