to get you to cancel Cummins' note
and to take mine instead."

"Francis, you are an honest man. The money is no great object with me.
But because I have found out that honesty is a thing that ought to be
encouraged, especially among friends, I will take your note and cancel
the other."

So this business was settled. Robert Palmer, governed by kindly feeling
rather than hard sense, overlooked his friend's weakness for
speculation, rather counting it as honesty.

CHAPTER VIII

"Bed-Bug Brown," Detective

When Mat Bailey drove the stage out of Graniteville the next morning,
John Keeler and "Bed-bug Brown" were the only passengers. Brown had
spent the previous evening learning all that he could about Mamie Slocum
and her young admirers. He had actually learned that a young man from
Nevada City who signed himself J. C. P. Collins had paid her attentions.
He had also discovered that the young school-teacher had more than once
expressed much admiration for Mat Bailey. In view of what Henry Francis
had told him of Mat's reflections on the school-teacher, Brown resolved,
quietly and of his own accord, to keep an eye upon Mat as well as upon
Mamie.

The little man was unusually quiet, revolving various theories in his
head, and contemplating the magnificence of the ten thousand dollar
reward. But the presence of John Keeler, Cummins' old partner, suggested
the wisdom of gleaning information from this source. So, in order to
impress Keeler with his seniority and larger experience, he began:

"You don't remember, I suppose, Mr. Keeler, when camels were introduced
here in the gold fields?"

"No, that was before my time."

"It was back in fifty-six, before the water-ditch companies had fairly
got started. It was as dry as Sahara on these mountains then, and it is
no wonder somebody thought of camels."

"Well, when you think of our ostrich farms, camels don't seem out of
place in California. Did you ever think, Mr. Brown, what extremes of
climate we have right here in Nevada County? Along about the tenth of
December they are cutting ice up in the Sierras while they are picking
oranges in the western end of the county."

"That is pretty good for the banner gold county of the State. Most of us
forget everything but the gold," replied Brown, smiling inwardly, to
think how easily this remark would lead up to the desired topic.

"I'm getting sick of the gold," replied honest John Keeler. "All that
was handy to get