ases,
would have been the fate of Bill Mosely and Tom Hadley.

But neither Bradley nor Ben was willing to go to such extremes. Jake
Bradley had had rough experiences, and he was no soft-hearted
sentimentalist, but he had a natural repugnance to taking the life of
his fellow-creatures.

"Money," he said on one occasion to Ben, "ain't to be measured ag'in a
man's life. I don't say I wouldn't kill a man for some things, though I
should hate to mightily, but it wouldn't be on account of robbery. I
wouldn't have a man's blood on my conscience for such a thing as that."

It is needless to say that our young hero, whose heart was warm and
humane, agreed fully with his older companion.

When the two friends got up in the morning and went out of the cabin,
they found their two captives in the same position in which they had
left them. They looked weary and were stiff in the limbs, as well they
might be.

"Well, my friends," said Bradley, "I hope you've passed a pleasant
night."

"I'm almost dead," growled Bill Mosely. "I feel as if I'd been here a
week."

"Do you feel the same way?" inquired Bradley, addressing Tom Hadley.

"I should say so," answered Hadley, in a voice of intense disgust.

"It was your own choice, Mosely," said Jake Bradley. "It was either all
night braced up against a tree, or to be shot at once and put out of
your misery."

"Who wants to be shot?" returned Mosely. "That would be worse than
stayin' here all night. You might have let us go last night."

"So I might, but I wanted to teach you a lesson. You know very well,
Bill Mosely, you'd have fared a good deal worse with some men. You'd
have been swingin' from the nearest bough, and so would your friend.
You'll come to that some time, but I'd rather some one else would hang
you. It ain't a job I hanker after."

"Are you goin' to set us free?" asked Mosely, impatiently, not enjoying
Bradley's prediction as to his future fate.

"Yes, I think I will--on one condition."

"Go ahead! I'll agree to anything."

"That you'll leave this part of California and not come back. I don't
want you to cross my path ag'in."

"You can bet I don't mean to," said Mosely; and there is no doubt he was
entirely in earnest.

"Do you make the same promise, Tom?" asked Bradley, turning to Hadley.

"I should say so," returned Hadley; and there is no reason to doubt his
sincerity also.

"You see, my friends, you don't appear to know the difference between
your pr