“What sort of plunder?”
“Why, nuggets and gold-dust—twenty-five hundred dollars’ worth. You see, I was down in the mines the other day, and heard of a man who had struck a lead and was going home that very day. But he didn’t go.”
“Why not?” asked the boy, when Smirker paused.
“‘Cause I knocked him on the head—that’s why. I’ve got the gold hid away safe. Do you want to go back now, or will you stay awhile? I am lonesome here all by myself.”
“I had better go now,” replied Julian, who was eager to escape from the man’s presence at the earliest possible moment. “I am in something of a hurry.”
Smirker struck up a lively whistle, and taking a bridle down from a pin beside the door, went into one of the stalls and brought out a horse which looked enough like Snowdrop to have been her brother. He was the same color, the same size, and just as stylish and spirited. Julian knew that he was expected to ride this horse away and leave his own steed in the care of the man; and, although he did not quite like the arrangement, he consoled himself with the thought that if he never saw Snowdrop again he would lose nothing by the exchange.
“You ride good horses, Fred,” said Smirker, as he put Julian’s saddle on the horse he had just brought out, “but you had better take my advice and get others of a different color. White horses don’t do for such business as this, ’cause they show too plain of nights; and any one who happens to pass you on the road will remember of having seen you. There are plenty of better horses in the world, and the one I am going to send with you is one of them.”
Smirker having by this time saddled and bridled the white nag, went into a second stall and brought out a large bay horse which he walked up and down the stable for Julian’s inspection. The moment the boy’s eyes rested on him he became reconciled to the loss of his mare, and even eager to part with her, if by so doing he could gain possession of this magnificent animal. If his speed and endurance were equal to his beauty, he was certainly a horse worth having.
“He’s lightning on wheels,” declared Smirker, as he slipped a bridle over the bay’s head, “and perhaps he will give you as much as you want to do to lead him. He came from Fort Stoughton, and was stolen from the major, who had just brought him from the States. There you are,” he added, waving his hand toward the horses, intimating by the gesture that Julian was at liberty to take charge of them as soon as he pleased. “I wish you a pleasant journey. You have been very lucky so far, and I hope your good fortune will continue.”
The boy was prompt to take advantage of the permission thus given him to leave the cabin. He quickly mounted the white horse, inquiring as he did so: