Another ocular expression of contempt from all parties for a man who would make the trip from the States in a boat instead of pushing straight across the continent as they had done; the little dark man showing by the same means his belief that there was some secret and cogent reason for that route being chosen.
“Well, I got to San Francisco, and the first person I got acquainted with there was a very kind gentleman named Walker Smith, who had known of my folks back in Ohio. He knew all about mines and owned a great many himself. I told him what I was after, that I’d come out to make a little money, and as a friend of his up at Sacramento had a valuable mine that Mr. Smith thought he could buy, I gave him five hundred dollars to go and buy it for me.”
Julius was visibly affected at this point, and in a most gentle manner, intended to be brutal in the extreme, called to his burro that had strayed a few yards away and was leisurely cropping the scanty vegetation, to “come up there.”
Thus having given vent to his pent up emotion (though the animal was utterly deaf to the command), Julius went on:
“Well, that was over six months ago, and I’ve never seen anything of Mr. Smith since that day I gave him my money—all in gold, too.”
This time the expressions of contempt were not confined to looks, but broke forth audibly from all sides. Only the little dark man remained silent, and he nodded his head in a very knowing manner, thereby suggesting that he attributed to Julius a voluminous catalogue of atrocities, which he could specify if it became necessary; and furthermore that he caviled at the others for their deplorable lack of insight into character.
Apprehending that he had placed Mr. Walker Smith in a bad light before these gentlemen, Julius made haste to defend him.
“Yes, and there were some men in San Francisco that I’m sure were enemies of Mr. Smith, and they tried to make me believe he was dishonest and was lying about the mine; but I didn’t mind them, because he had told me just where the mine was and everything about it; why, he even showed me a piece of gold that had been taken from it. At last I made up my mind that he had been murdered and robbed of my money, so I’ve come up this way to find some gold for myself. But you can’t tell me,” he added, after a second’s reflection, “that Smith was dishonest. He knew of ’most all our folks.”
Having thus disposed of the matter of Mr. Smith’s probity, Julius began unstrapping his outfit, and by his general demeanor gave the others to understand that he had at last found a home and friends.
This time the limited vocabulary of the group would not admit of any adequate expression of their contempt, so they were obliged to resort to looks again, the little dark man intimating, by a peculiar expression of mingled horror and distrust, that this was positively the most insinuating villain he had ever met.