troubil, and keep things about ekal, ez he was goin' away, I sorter
lifted this yer bag of hiz outer the tail board of his sleigh. I don't
know as it is any exchange or compensation, but it may give ye a chance
to spot him agin, or him you. It strikes me as bein' far-minded and
squar';" and with these words he deposited at the feet of the astounded
Thatcher the black travelling bag of Mr. Wiles.
"But, Bill,--see here! I can't take this!" interrupted Thatcher hastily.
"You can't swear that he's taken my bag,--and--and,--blank it all,--this
won't do, you know. I've no right to this man's things, even if--"
"Hold your hosses," said Bill gravely; "I ondertook to take charge
o' your traps. I didn't--at least that d----d wall-eyed--Thar's a
portmantle! I don't know who's it is. Take it."
Half amused, half embarrassed, yet still protesting, Thatcher took the
bag in his hands.
"Ye might open it in my presence," suggested Yuba Bill gravely.
Thatcher, half laughingly, did so. It was full of papers and
semi-legal-looking documents. Thatcher's own name on one of them caught
his eye; he opened the paper hastily and perused it. The smile faded
from his lips.
"Well," said Yuba Bill, "suppose we call it a fair exchange at present."
Thatcher was still examining the papers. Suddenly this cautious,
strong-minded man looked up into Yuba Bill's waiting face, and said
quietly, in the despicable slang of the epoch and region:
"It's a go! Suppose we do."
CHAPTER XIII
HOW IT BECAME FAMOUS
Yuba Bill was right in believing that Wiles would lose no time at
Rawlings. He left there on a fleet horse before Bill had returned with
the broken-down coach to the last station, and distanced the telegram
sent to detain him two hours. Leaving the stage road and its dangerous
telegraphic stations, he pushed southward to Denver over the army
trail, in company with a half-breed packer, crossing the Missouri before
Thatcher had reached Julesburg. When Thatcher was at Omaha, Wiles was
already in St. Louis; and as the Pullman car containing the hero of
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