“I thought Gertrude said the police went up to Camp’s Gulch on the early cars next morning to arrest him?” said Nell, with a dismayed look.
“So they did, only when they got there he was gone; one of the big doors was lifted clean off its hinges, and the Chinaman’s coffin had been taken away. It made us all feel pretty weird at the time, I can tell you, so the doctor said you were not to be told, for fear there was a tragedy behind, which would have upset you. But Sam Peters came down this morning to see about packing up his furniture, and he’s just been over and told me all about what has come out since.”
“Yes?” queried Nell, doubtfully.
Mrs. Nichols cleared her throat vigorously. Next to hearing a bit of neighbourly gossip which had no venom in it, was the pleasure of passing it on, so she was disposed to make the most of the occasion.
“It seems that some of the miners—the Roseneath lot, you know—recognized the voice of the man in the coffin as belonging to young Dick Brunsen, who had swindled the Syndicate. So, when the doctor and Sam brought the engine and the rest of you back here, one of the men started hot-foot to the Settlement, to let the Syndicate know where the man was to be found who had cheated them so badly. It was a risky thing to do, and I guess that Dick Brunsen’s life had never been in quite so much danger before.”
“Did they hurt him?” queried Nell, faintly.
“No; that is the funny part of it, for when men take the law into their own hands there is mostly a tragedy somewhere. Directly the Syndicate got word about where Dick Brunsen was to be found, they set off for the depot to get their revenge before the police arrived to arrest the prisoner. But it seems that the young man’s father was hanging about the depot, and when he heard what was on hand, he came forward and made a bargain with them.”
“What sort of a bargain?” asked Nell.
“The very best sort from the point of view of the Syndicate. He offered to return every dollar of the money out of which they had been cheated, if only they would do something to set young Dick free; but if they would not do this, Brunsen said that both he and his son would die before they would reveal the hiding-place of the money, which, as good luck would have it, they had not been able to spend. The Syndicate figured it out then that dollars were more satisfactory than revenge, so they agreed to get young Dick free somehow, even if they had to pull the shed down to do it. But they vowed that if the money was not forthcoming after they had done their part, the Brunsens, father and son, should be strung up to the nearest tree by their necks.”
“How horrible!” groaned Nell, with a shiver.