“Is this man Bowles, of whom you spoke, your father?”
“No, sir,” replied Joe, emphatically. “I live with him, but he is no relative of mine. My father, as I remember him, was a different sort of man altogether.”
“Eh!” ejaculated the stranger, with a start. “As you remember him? Ah! he is dead, then?”
“Not that I know of, sir. He was alive and well the last time I saw him. I’ll see him again in a few weeks.”
“Where is he?”
“Out West. He owns a rancho near the mountains with a gold mine on it.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Because I can’t help myself. I didn’t come here of my own free will, but was brought by one who will have good cause to remember me if I meet him again when I become a man.”
“Do you think you would know him if you should see him again?” asked the stranger, looking sharply at Julian, and putting his hat lower over his eyes.