end of the Mayhews."

"Where is he?"

"I do not know, sir."

"And they are dead."

"Manton and Hugh Mayhew are dead, by my hand, but where proof of their
crime can be found I cannot tell, and so I am forced to hide under an
assumed name--yes, Doctor Powell, the name of a dead man, Andrew Seldon,
the one whose body was found by the rock in the desert and buried for
mine."

"You have had a remarkable escape, Weston----"

"Seldon now sir, for that is the name I have taken, and let me now tell
you how that poor man, the real Andrew Seldon, was plotted against."

"I shall be glad to hear all that you are willing to tell me, Seldon."

"Well, sir, it was while escaping from the pursuing soldiers, that I
came upon a stray horse. He led me back to where his dead master lay
upon the desert, and upon the body I found papers telling who he was,
that he had left home under a cloud, had left a wife and child and
riches, and come West to hide himself and hunt for gold until he dared
return.

"There was a map of gold finds he had discovered, and he had struck it
rich and was on his way home. So I dressed him in my uniform, took his
traps, and went my way, and he was buried as Wallace Weston.

"It was when I was returning to the gold find of Andrew Seldon that I
came upon Black-heart Bill's camp, and, finding in him Hugh Mayhew, I
killed him. My intention was to take Andrew Seldon's name, dig his gold,
and, to ease my conscience, give half to his family.

"I imitated his writing and wrote to his lawyer and best friend, and
little daughter, for his wife was dead, as letters told me which he had
with him. In answer, at W---- I learned that I, as Andrew Seldon, dared
not return home, that my daughter Celeste was dead, and my fortune gone.

"When Celeste Seldon was captured, from her own lips I learned as she
told the outlaw lieutenant, that all had been a plot to keep her father
away, and, discovering the plot, she had come out here to find him,
after the messenger had failed to write home to her later than on his
arrival in W----.

"Now, you know, Doctor Powell, why I was seeking Buffalo Bill, and it is
my intention to seek that young girl, tell her all, and give her
one-half of the fortune in gold I have found, through her father's maps
and directions, in the Grand Canyon."

"And then?"

"I suppose I shall drift about the world, sir, unknown, leading an
aimless life, or, perhaps, return to my gold-digging again."

"N