“Thank you for your favorable opinion, Mr. Brush.”
“You needn’t thank me, for I couldn’t help feeling the way I did. As I was goin’ the same journey, I thought I’d like to hitch to you and Dobson, though I didn’t much like him; but he seemed offish, and I saw he didn’t want me. I didn’t know why then, but I know now.”
“I was very much disappointed when Mr. Burnett hurried me away from St. Joe without seeing you.”
“So was I. I’d only gone out for half an hour to do a little shopping, thinkin’ I’d find you when I came back. Well, when I got back to the hotel, I looked round for you, and couldn’t find you. I thought maybe you’d gone out to take a walk. To make sure, I asked the stable-boy if he’d seen anything of a man and boy. He told me that you’d started off in the stage only twenty minutes ago. That took me quite aback, and I didn’t know what to do. I knew well enough what that rascal did it for. He wanted to get me off the track. Now, Tom, I’m a determined sort of man—kinder stubborn, I expect—and when I found how much he wanted to separate us, I was bound to defeat his plans, if it cost me a hundred dollars, partic’larly after a little discovery I made.”
“What was that, Mr. Brush?” asked Tom.
“I’ll tell you. A gentleman who was standin’ by, and heard what I asked the stable-boy, said:
“‘Do you know them parties you are askin’ about?’
“‘No, I only met ’em last evenin’.’
“‘Well, the man’s a first-class rascal and swindler.’
“‘You don’t say!’ I answered. ‘Who is he, and what do you know about him?’