of any other man in the world, always excepting her
brother Jim, of course.

Miss Mary reported all this to Hoover much more gracefully than I have
put it, for, being a woman, her sympathies would naturally exhibit
themselves with peculiar tenderness when conveying to a lover certain
information touching his inamorata.

There were two subjects upon which Miss Woppit seemed to love to hear
Mary talk. One was Mary herself and the other was Jim Woppit. Mary
regarded this as being very natural. Why should n't this women in exile
pine to hear of the gay, beautiful world outside her pent horizon? So
Mary told her all about the sights she had seen, the places she had been
to, the people she had met, the books she had read, the dresses she--but,
no, Miss Woppit cared nothing for that kind of gossip--now you 'll agree
that she was a remarkable woman, not to want to hear all about the lovely
dresses Mary had seen and could describe so eloquently.

Then again, as to Jim, was n't it natural that Miss Woppit, fairly
wrapped up in that brother, should be anxious to hear the good opinion
that other folk had of him? Did the miners like Jim, she asked--what did
they say, and what did Sir Charles say? Miss Woppit was fertile in
questionings of this kind, and Mary made satisfactory answers, for she
was sure that everybody liked Jim, and as for her father, why, he had
taken Jim right into his confidence the day he came to the camp.

Sir Charles had indeed made a confidant of Jim. One day he called him
into his room at the Mears House. "Mr. City Marshal," said Sir Charles,
in atone that implied secrecy, "I have given it out that I shall leave
the camp for home day after to-morrow."

"Yes, I had heerd talk," answered Jim Woppit. "You are going by the
stage."

"Certainly, by the stage," said Sir Charles, "but _not_ day after
to-morrow; I go to-morrow."

"To-morrow, sir?"

"To-morrow," repeated Sir Charles. "The coach leaves here, as I am told,
at eleven o' clock. At four we shall arrive at Wolcott Siding, there to
catch the down express, barring delay. I say 'barring delay,' and it is
with a view to evading the probability of delay that I have given out
that I am to leave on a certain day, whereas, in fact, I shall leave a
day earlier. You understand?"

"You bet I do," said Jim. "You are afraid of--of the robbers?"

"I shall have some money with me," answered Sir Charles, "but that alone
does not make me desirous of