Sympathy for the man prevented his listeners taking offence at the words which, from any one else, would have brought serious consequences. The parson said soothingly:
“If you were not so wrought up, captain, you would not be so unreasonable; suppose Wade and I had gone to you with the statement that the man who, according to your own words, had saved your life but a short time before in the mountains, was a villain, who contemplated robbing you of your child; what would you have done?”
“Thanked you and been on my guard.”
“You would have done nothing of the kind; you would have cursed us and told us to mind our own business.”
“No matter what I would have done, it was your duty to tell me, regardless of the consequences to yourselves. I might have resented it, but my eyes would have been opened and this blow saved me.”
“Nothing could have opened your eyes, for you were blind,” said the parson, who felt that though the man was intensely agitated, he ought to hear some plain truths; “even had you suspected there was ground for our fears, you would have gone to Lieutenant Russell and demanded an explanation. He would have denied it, and you would have believed him with the result that he would have been put on his guard and would have deceived you the more completely.”
“Likewise, as aforesaid,” added Ruggles, “the villain would have come to us and made us give our grounds for our charges. What ridic’lous fools we 158 would have been, when all we could answer was that we thought he looked as if he meant to run away with your darter.”
“There may be some justice in what you say,” replied the captain more composedly; “It was I who was blind, but I can’t understand it. Never until I read that piece of paper, did I suspect the truth.”
“Howsumever, the parson and me haven’t been idle; we often talked it over and fixed on a line that we thought would work better than going to you. We showed the leftenant that we was onto his game; I give him a scowl now and then, as it fell convenient, that said ‘Beware!’ We, that is the parson and me, made up our minds to watch close, and, at the first sign that was dead sure, we’d fall onto him like a couple of mountains.”