Forty-one Thieves Part 5

Keeler took the proffered sheet and read:

"San Francisco, Sept. 5, 1879.

Mr. Robert Palmer.

Dear Sir:

I have just read about the murder of Mr. c.u.mmins. The papers say he lived at Moore's Flat, and worked a claim once on Fillmore Hill. So he must have been a friend of yours. It is too bad. I might help you find the murderers, as all the bad men of Nevada County are known down here. If you will come down here or send somebody, I will help you all I can.

I am getting along all right.

Very respectfully, Harriet Somers."

"I thought you said her name was Chesney," remarked Keeler, as he returned the letter.

"Oh well, she claims to have been married to two or three different men.

Calling herself Mrs. Somers seems to help her keep her self-respect. She says Somers is dead. For my part, I never enquired whether there ever was a sure-enough Mr. Somers or not. But I am sure she can help us in this business. I wish you would have a talk with the woman."

"There is no harm in that. I'll do it. And if I can find anything to go on, I'll undertake to follow up those fellows. Perhaps I can find out something at Nevada City. I reckon I'll have to let you look out for Mrs. Keeler and the boy, as you say."

"I'm mighty glad to hear you say that. And I'll make out a check right now. Smith, the livery man at Eureka South, will cash it; and you can take the stage out to-morrow morning."

"All right. I reckon we'd better not lose any time."

Palmer had already got out pen and ink. It was something of a "ch.o.r.e"

for the old man to draw a check. Miners' paralysis was creeping on, and two years later the best he could do was to make his mark. But to-day he prolonged his labors, making out a second check, to be cashed when Keeler reached San Francisco.

The business was hardly transacted when Henry Francis walked in.

"Glad to see you, Francis!" exclaimed the old man. "What news from Moore's Flat?" He exchanged glances with Keeler which seemed to mean that their business should be regarded as strictly private, although Henry Francis was the friend of both, and had won the confidence and affection of old man Palmer. Francis and Palmer held the same political faith. The former came of a distinguished Democratic family, so that the old man's protection and loyalty had been bestowed upon him upon his arrival in the gold fields twenty years before. Furthermore, the old man had proved the unfailing honesty of the younger man. Jew bankers, in blowing dirt and impurities from gold dust offered for sale, were not over-careful about blowing away gold dust, too, which would be caught on buckskin placed out of sight behind the counter. Palmer's dust was very fine, and more than once he had suffered through such sharp practice, only to vow he never would suffer so again. In Francis he had found a strictly honest banker, whose virtue he was inclined to attribute to correct political principles, overlooking the moral delinquencies of other Democratic neighbors. But the old man, through long years of experience with human nature in California, had grown extremely cautious and secretive. Probably no one would ever have been the wiser in regard to his old sweetheart and her sad history except for the escape of c.u.mmins' murderers. And now it was not necessary that any man other than Keeler should know.

"Glad to see you, Francis. What news from Moore's Flat?"

Francis looked grave. "I suppose Keeler has told you all I know. Seven days gone and nothing heard of the robbers. I shall expect a telegram to-morrow or next day, telling of Will c.u.mmins' burial in the village cemetery at home. And his old father and mother are going to be denied the small comfort of knowing that the murderers have been caught.

"Keeler, you were c.u.mmins' partner once. Do you have any idea who the robbers were?"

"I am sorry to say, I don't. This country is full of bad men. I have thought of the blacklegs along Kanaka Creek. A robbery in Jacka.s.s Ravine was traced to that gang. But the rascals stand together, and are ready to defend a partner with alibis or pistols."

If Keeler felt constrained to withhold information about his intended visit to San Francisco in the capacity of detective, Francis on his part saw no reason to state that he had just employed Bed-bug Brown in a similar capacity. For in descending the canon of the Middle Yuba, he had gone a mile out of his way up the river to the cabin of this worthy gentleman, and finding him at home had promptly engaged his services.

Brown, like Keeler, was to take the stage to Nevada City on the morrow, provided with a fee for current expenses.

"Well," said Palmer, "I am glad for my part that the California gold craze is coming to an end. When the farmers down in the Sacramento Valley get the upper hand, they will stop hydraulic mining, for it keeps covering their good soil with sand and clay. The Government authorities say we are filling up San Francis...o...b..y, too; so Uncle Sam is going to step in and do something. Then those rowdies along Kanaka Creek and all the other bad men in this country will have to move on."

"And so will the rest of us," smiled Francis. "A man who has made his pile can afford to retire. But what about Keeler here, and me?"

"Well," persisted Palmer, "I think Will c.u.mmins was right in wanting to leave the gold fields. Gold makes people crazy. Half our gamblers and thieves would be decent men in a decent community."

"Mr. Palmer means," said Keeler, "that Pat Flynn, who is a good Democrat, but who doesn't pay back the fifty dollars he borrowed from Mr. Palmer last winter, would be a better Democrat back in Connecticut, making wooden hams and nutmegs." With this he shook hands with his friends and departed, for it was evident Francis had some private business with the old man.

When they were alone, Francis said:

"You know, Mr. Palmer, that we Pennsylvanians stand together. I have undertaken to settle up c.u.mmins' affairs. I find you hold his note for a thousand dollars."

"I do. Lent him the money when he made a fresh start a few years back.

But I supposed I stood to lose it when the robbers took c.u.mmins' gold the other day. I certainly could afford to lose it."

"Well, you don't have to lose it, Mr. Palmer. c.u.mmins left mining stock at the bank in my care that will more than cover the debt. The fact is, I borrowed the value of the stock from him. Strictly speaking, I got him to put a couple of thousand into a paying proposition; and he left everything in my hands. So I am going to get you to cancel c.u.mmins' 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 pa.s.sengers. Brown had spent the previous evening learning all that he could about Mamie Sloc.u.m 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, c.u.mmins' 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 at has been carried away. No chance left for a poor man. It takes a big company with capital to run the business of hydraulic mining as they do at Moore's Flat and North Bloomfield. Quartz mining is still worse. By the time you've sunk a shaft and put up a stamping-mill, you've mortgaged your quartz for more than it is worth, perhaps. It takes capital to run a quartz mine."

"Yes," a.s.sented Brown, "this country has seen its best days."

"That's what old man Palmer says," remarked Keeler, looking across the canon at Palmer's Diggings.

"You and c.u.mmins did pretty well over there fifteen years ago," and the little detective's eyes twinkled at his own cleverness.

"We made a living; that's about all."

"But c.u.mmins was a wealthy man some years back."