crazy--yes. But I know one thing! I will
go away. I will leave this house. Never mind, Mr. Scully; never mind.
I will go away."

"You will not go 'way," said Scully. "You will not go 'way until I
hear the reason of this business. If anybody has troubled you I will
take care of him. This is my house. You are under my roof, and I will
not allow any peaceable man to be troubled here." He cast a terrible
eye upon Johnnie, the cowboy, and the Easterner.

"Never mind, Mr. Scully; never mind. I will go away. I do not wish to
be killed." The Swede moved towards the door, which opened upon the
stairs. It was evidently his intention to go at once for his baggage.

"No, no," shouted Scully peremptorily; but the white-faced man slid by
him and disappeared. "Now," said Scully severely, "what does this
mane?"

Johnnie and the cowboy cried together: "Why, we didn't do nothin' to
'im!"

Scully's eyes were cold. "No," he said, "you didn't?"

Johnnie swore a deep oath. "Why this is the wildest loon I ever see.
We didn't do nothin' at all. We were jest sittin' here play in' cards,
and he--"

The father suddenly spoke to the Easterner. "Mr. Blanc," he asked,
"what has these boys been doin'?"

The Easterner reflected again. "I didn't see anything wrong at all,"
he said at last, slowly.

Scully began to howl. "But what does it mane?" He stared ferociously
at his son. "I have a mind to lather you for this, me boy."

Johnnie was frantic. "Well, what have I done?" he bawled at his
father.

III

"I think you are tongue-tied," said Scully finally to his son, the
cowboy, and the Easterner; and at the end of this scornful sentence he
left the room.

Up-stairs the Swede was swiftly fastening the straps of his great
valise. Once his back happened to be half turned towards the door,
and, hearing a noise there, he wheeled and sprang up, uttering a loud
cry. Scully's wrinkled visage showed grimly in the light of the small
lamp he carried. This yellow effulgence, streaming upward, colored
only his prominent features, and left his eyes, for instance, in
mysterious shadow. He resembled a murderer.

"Man! man!" he exclaimed, "have you gone daffy?"

"Oh, no! Oh, no!" rejoined the other. "There are people in this world
who know pretty nearly as much as you do--understand?"

For a moment they stood gazing at each other. Upon the Swede's deathly
pale checks were two spots brightly crimson and sharply edged, as if
they had been careful