ither! Now, listen. I've come to you, wanting to be friendly. I
don't deny it was to my interests to keep you back, so I could get to
Californy first, and I tried my levelest. But you've beat me, and here
you are. I'm a fair man; I know when I'm licked, and I don't bear you
ill-will. Understand? The passengers on this steamer," and the
long-nosed man raised his voice so that the people around would hear,
"are witness to my coming to you and saying, 'You've licked me; but I'm
friendly. Let by-gones be by-gones.' And what do I get? Why, you
call me a thief, when you know very well I didn't do it. That hurts my
feelings, gentlemen," and with this appeal, the long-nosed man walked
off, apparently indignant.

"That's the most remarkable speech I ever heard in all my life!"
exclaimed Mr. Adams, struggling between laughter and wrath. "He
threatens Charley and me, and tries to cut our boat down and drown us,
and assaults you (to Mr. Grigsby) and gets you almost knifed, and sets
our canoe adrift, on the Chagres, and when we finally, by luck, reach
the steamer just as she's weighing anchor, he orders the captain not to
take us aboard--and now after our cabin is robbed very suspiciously and
we've lost what he wanted, he says, 'I forgive you. I'm friendly.
Shake hands.'"

Charley felt the same way. Evidently so did Mr. Grigsby, whose eyes
were glinting shrewdly. He beckoned Charley and his father and led
them out of earshot of the other passengers.

"That talk doesn't go, of course," he said. "It's regular Injun talk,
after they've stolen your hosses. Humph! We can't find Charley's man,
can we? At least, we haven't found him. Why? Because there isn't any
such man. I'll wager my rifle against a cocoanut that the hair and
beard were false. If they'd been stripped off, the third rascal in the
gang would have shown up. As soon as Jacobs blustered about our
'proving' that the third fellow was on ship and not on shore, I made up
my mind. He and Charley's man are one and the same. See?"

"I believe you're right," declared Mr. Adams. "What do you think,
Charley? You said his eyes were black, as you remembered."

"He might be the same," admitted Charley. "At any rate," continued Mr.
Grigsby, "the best we can do is to keep quiet and lie low. It hasn't
worked any harm to tell those fellows that we know what's happened and
we're not afraid of 'em. We've given them something to think about.
But we'll not burn