l of rough men, apparently miners or packers--some of them Mexican,
with here and there a Kanaka or Australian. Two men more ostentatiously
clad, though apparently on equal terms with the others, were standing in
the corner with their backs towards him. From the general silence as he
entered he imagined that he had been the subject of conversation, and
that his altercation with Hamlin had been overheard. Suddenly one of the
two men turned and approached him. To his consternation he recognized
Steptoe,--Steptoe, whom he had not seen for five years until last night,
when he had avoided him in the courtyard of the Boomville Hotel. His
first instinct was to retreat, but it was too late. And the spirits had
warmed him into temporary recklessness.

"You ain't goin' to be backed down by a short-card gambler, are yer?"
said Steptoe, with coarse familiarity.

"I have a lady with me, and am pressed for time," said Van Loo quickly.
"He knows it, otherwise he would not have dared"--

"Well, look here," said Steptoe roughly. "I ain't particularly sweet on
you, as you know; but I and these gentlemen," he added, glancing around
the room, "ain't particularly sweet on Mr. Jack Hamlin neither, and we
kalkilate to stand by you if you say so. Now, I reckon you want to
get away with the woman, and the quicker the better, as you're afraid
there'll be somebody after you afore long. That's the way it pans out,
don't it? Well, when you're ready to go, and you just tip us the wink,
we'll get in a circle round Jack and cover him, and if he starts after
you we'll send him on a little longer journey!--eh, boys?"

The men muttered their approval, and one or two drew their revolvers
from their belts. Van Loo's heart, which had leaped at first at this
proposal of help, sank at this failure of his little plan of abandoning
Mrs. Barker. He hesitated, and then stammered, "Thank you! Haste is
everything with us now; but I shouldn't mind leaving the lady among
CHIVALROUS GENTLEMEN like yourselves for a few hours only, until I
could communicate with my friends and return to properly chastise this
scoundrel."

Steptoe drew in his breath with a slight whistle, and gazed at Van Loo.
He instantly understood him. But the plea did not suit Steptoe, who,
for purposes of his own, wished to put Mrs. Barker beyond her husband's
possible reach. He smiled grimly. "I think you'd better take the woman
with you," he said. "I don't think," he added in a lower voice, "t