"Is there anybody that knows what direction he took?"
"My friend, the mayor, knows as well as any man. Dewey was his next neighbor, and often talked over his plans with him."
"Then we will go and see the mayor."
"No need of going, here he comes."
CHAPTER XXIII. — AMONG THE SIERRAS.
Ben had heard of mayors, and once he had seen one, a pompous-looking man who had once served in that capacity in an inland city of some twenty thousand inhabitants, and he supposed that all mayors were alike. He could hardly believe his eyes, therefore, when he saw before him a man of medium height, dressed in a ragged shirt and trousers, and wearing a hat once white, but now dirt-begrimed.
"Friends of yours, judge?" said the newcomer, speaking to Hunter, and indicating by a nod Ben and his companion.
"You ought to know one of them, mayor," said Hunter.