ised his sombrero and said:

"I hope I find Miss Seldon well?"

"Seldon! She bears the name I now am masquerading under," muttered the
gold-hunter in intense surprise.

"Miss Seldon is as well as could be expected under the existing
circumstances, of being the captive of a band of cutthroats," was the
cutting reply, and the listening man, who heard all, opened wide his
eyes.

"You are harsh in your terms, Miss Seldon."

"Are you not road-agents, robbers, and murderers, and are you not
holding me here for ransom, after having robbed me of a large sum in my
keeping?"

"Yes, such is the case."

"Then why wince under the name of cutthroat? But you have been away for
some days."

"I have."

"You have seen your chief?"

"I have."

"And what message does he send?"

"You are to go with me at dawn to the rendezvous on the Overland Trail,
where you are to be given over to the one sent by the miners of Last
Chance to pay your ransom."

"I am glad of this; but will your chief keep faith, or will he play the
traitor for a third time and escape giving me up through some trick?"

"No, for if he did he would surely be run down, as he knows, by the
miners, even if your life was the forfeit."

"I hope it may prove true that I am to be ransomed, and I will be ready
to go with you; but where is your chief?"

"He is in his other camp."

"Then he has two?"

"Yes."

"Am I to be blindfolded and bound again when you are taking me from
here?"

"Such are his orders, Miss Seldon."

"He fears that I, a young girl, may lead a force upon his secret
retreat?"

"That is just what he fears, Miss Seldon."

"I only wish I _was_ able to do so."

"Miss Seldon, may I speak a word to you?" suddenly said the masked
outlaw, drawing nearer.

"I believe there is no more to say, for I will be ready at the hour you
desire to start."

"There is more to say, and say it I will. I wish to tell you that I have
been a very wicked man, that I went to the bad when hardly out of my
teens, broke my mother's heart by my evil life, and ruined my father
financially, driving him to suicide in his despair.

"I came West and tried to redeem the past by becoming an honest miner;
but luck went against me, and I at last turned once more to evil and
found a band of outlaws. Money came to me in plenty, and at last I
drifted into the band that our chief commands, and, as you know, I am
his lieutenant.

"He found this mine and sent us here to wor