“A couple of blockheads, I say!” replied the voice of Reginald Mortimer, in angry, excited tones. “Two desperadoes like you and Tom to allow a single man like Silas Roper to get the better of you. Go and hide yourself. How did it happen?”
“Why we was a bringin’ him down here this mornin’ on hossback, me and Tom was,” replied Sanders, “an’ the first thing we knowed he slipped his hands out o’ his bonds, which we thought we had made hard an’ fast, an’ afore we could say ‘Gen’ral Jackson’ with our mouths open, he jerked Tom’s gun out o’ his hands, knocked him from his saddle as clean as a whistle, an’ sent the ball into me.”
“Hurrah for Silas?” thought Julian, gleefully. “He has escaped. Now, if there is any way in which he can assist me he will not fail to do it.”
“He was out o’ sight an’ hearin’ afore we could raise a finger to stop him,” continued Sanders. “I guess my broken arm an’ Tom’s bloody head is proof enough of what I say, hain’t it? We couldn’t help it.”
“Perhaps you did the best you could,” replied Reginald Mortimer in a milder tone. “That Silas Roper is a match for any two men in the mountains. Come into this room and let Pedro dress your wounds.”
“Nary time,” said Sanders emphatically. “I’ve had jest the wust luck in the world ever since I had anything to do with you an’ your house, an’ now I’m goin’ to cut you. I came here to tell you that, an’ I ain’t never comin’ nigh you again. Let us out o’ here.”
“You will come whenever I choose to send for you,” said Mr. Mortimer fiercely.
“Oh, if it comes to that cap’n, in course we will,” replied Sanders, dropping his angry, confident tone very suddenly. “We’re bound to obey orders, but don’t ask nary one of us to come here agin. We’d a heap sooner you’d send us out to steal hosses and rob miners.”
“Silence!” said Mr. Mortimer in a hoarse whisper. “Do you not know that the very walls in this house have ears? You must capture Silas Roper; and I will give you the money I promised you whenever you deliver him into my hands. He is about here, and he will remain in the vicinity as long as I hold fast to this stool-pigeon.”