countenance.

But it occurred to John Keeler that somehow it appeared as if Francis
imagined himself sitting at his own trial. He seemed to show an almost
eager interest in the subterfuges and the raising of legal dust by means
of which counsel for the defense endeavored to blind the eyes of the
jurors. Keeler hardly dared to let his fancy run on to logical
conclusions. It seemed too much like condemning a man without giving him
a trial. Yet he could not help being haunted by the thought that some
thieves are too shrewd to assume the risks of highway robbery. In his
own mind this thought constituted the one valid argument against capital
punishment. For if common scoundrels are to be executed what severer
punishment is left for the more crafty villain? But he could see that a
sensitive nature like that of Francis was capable of infinite suffering;
and he thought of the words of Scripture, "Verily they have their
reward."

CHAPTER XIX

The Home-Coming of Another Dead Man

"The mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small."

For example, there was Robert Palmer, who after thirty years spent in
the gold fields had accumulated considerable treasure. But choosing to
dig for gold and to live among adventurers, thieves, and speculators, he
had come to distrust human nature. He became so secretive that even at
the approach of death, when the kindly French doctor had given him fair
warning, he would confide in only one man. Verily, he had his reward.

Incidentally, the three Californians whom he had named as his executors
prospered. They may not all be included among the forty-one thieves of
this story, but it may not seem unreasonable to suppose that Henry
Francis made it worth while for Hintzen and Haggerty to keep quiet. The
point is that all three executors prospered--and then died penniless.

Hintzen made so much money over at Forest City that he left for Arizona,
where he invested in copper, and lost everything he had. Haggerty, who
remained in his store at Moore's Flat, where he had made money rapidly,
speculated and lost all, including the savings of a few poor people who
had trusted him. Henry Francis speculated in the stock of the famous
Comstock mine, in the adjoining State of Nevada, lost the fortune he had
wrongfully acquired, and died broken-hearted. It was only six years
after Palmer's death that he collapsed, and was taken home to
Reedsville, Pennsylvania.

Here, ostensibly the