loved.

"Several years after other news came to me from my old home, and to the
effect that Manton Mayhew had gone to the bad and in a drunken brawl had
wounded a companion fatally as he had believed, and he had fled no one
knew where.

"His brother Hugh had wrecked his father's bank, and in a drunken frenzy
had shot his wife one night, and he, too, had become a fugitive. Well,
to end the story quickly, for I hate to dwell upon it, Manton Mayhew had
joined the army, and, a good soldier, had become a sergeant."

"Ordered to Fort Faraway he had met there Sergeant Weston, whom he
recognized, and, fearing to be exposed in his crimes, he had at once
attacked him, telling him he would kill him, and say that it was on
account of his insubordination.

"But Wallace Weston was armed, having just been given a revolver by an
officer to take to his quarters, and he killed Mayhew as he was about to
drive a knife to his heart.

"Rather than bring out the old story, and, perhaps, be carried back East
to be tried for the murder of the bank watchman, of which he was
innocent, Sergeant Wallace Weston submitted in silence to his trial and
accepted his fate, feeling that his life was one of despair."

"And do you know all this to be as you have stated?" asked Surgeon
Powell, when the gold-hunter had finished his story.

"I do, sir."

"Knowing it, you did not come to the rescue of poor Weston?"

"I did not, sir."

"May I ask why?" and Frank Powell spoke sternly.

"I will tell you the reason, Surgeon Powell, if you will pledge me your
word to receive it in sacred confidence."

"I will so pledge myself, Mr. Seldon."

"Because, sir, _I am Wallace Weston_."

Frank Powell was always a calm, cool man, but now he sprang to his feet,
dropping his pipe, and cried:

"Do you speak the truth?"

"I do, sir."

"Upon honor?"

"Yes."

"Now I recognize the look that has so haunted me since I met you this
morning. Upon my soul, Weston, I am glad to see that you are not dead,
that you can clear up the story of Mayhew's killing and announce
yourself once more a guiltless man."

"But I cannot, sir, for you forget that I am accused of murdering the
watchman and robbing the bank."

"Is there no way in which you can disprove that?"

"Only by the confession of the guilty ones."

"Who were they?"

"The Mayhews, and one other."

"They were guilty?"

"Yes, sir."

"And who was the other man?"

"A clerk in the bank and devoted fri