g in the instincts of a man if he
didn't do that same thing."

"Mr. Ortigies forgits that I didn't mean to suggest that _he_ was to
be a member of the committee; I meant they should be _gentlemen_;
consequently that bars him out and there wouldn't be no trouble."

"I understand your sarcasm, Wade, but your words would leave you off
the committee likewise; but may I ask what the members would ask him
when they knocked at his door?"

"Any gentleman wouldn't be at a loss what to say, fur he would only
hev to remark sorter careless like that he had observed the man was
acting so queer that we was afeard he was troubled with remorse over
some crime he'd committed, and about which he had got notice that the
officers was lookin' fur him, but that if he'd trust us and give a
description of the officers, so there wouldn't be any mistake, we'd
watch fur 'em up the trail and pick 'em off afore they could profane
New Constantinople with their presence."

This was a prodigious sentence for Wade, and he leaned back and smoked
his pipe with considerable self-complacency, but it impressed none of
his hearers as he expected. Parson Brush shook his head.

"It isn't a very wise way of introducing yourself to a man by assuming
that he is a fugitive from justice. In the first place, I am sure
there is nothing of the kind in the case of Dawson. He has probably
heard some news from the East that troubles him."

"That's just what I was sayin'," broke in Ruggles.

"But not of the nature intimated by you."

"What else can it be?"

"It might be one of a dozen things; I know you are all wrong in your
guesses."

Every eye was fixed upon the parson, for all were anxious to learn at
what he was hinting. His face was unusually grave, but he stopped
speaking, as if he deemed it indiscreet to say anything more. He
noticed the looks and whetted the curiosity by adding:

"I have been so disturbed over the change in Dawson that I called on
him last night and had a talk with him."

"And what did you learn?" asked Budge Isham, the moment Brush showed
an inclination to stop talking.

"Well, it was hard work to draw him out, but finally he told me he had
received a letter from the East, which made him think he would have to
leave us. That isn't the worst."

All were breathless, afraid to give utterance to the dread that until
then was vague and indistinct in their minds.

"He thinks he must take his daughter Nellie with him."

"What! Take