ke's
knowledge. He did not reply.

"Hand over that watch!" said Luke, in a tone of authority.

"Will you let me go if I do?"

"I will make no conditions with you. Hand over that watch!"

Burns drew it from his inside pocket and handed it over.

"Humph! So far so good. Now how about that dollar you took to buy
eggs?"

"It is the only money I have, except a few pennies. Please let me keep
it."

"If I tell the miners what you have done you won't need any more
money," said Luke, grimly.

"Why not?" asked Burns, trembling.

"Why not?" repeated Luke. "Because they will hang you to the nearest
tree. You won't need to trouble about money matters after that."

"You won't give me up, Mr. Robbins," pleaded Burns in an agony of
terror. "I--I am not fit to die. Besides, I am a young man. I am not
yet forty. I will turn over a new leaf. I will, truly."

"It's high time you did. It is a long time since you earned an honest
living."

"I know it, Mr. Robbins. I have been a bad man, but it is not too late
to reform. If you'll let me go I will leave Oreville to-night, and I
will never trouble you again."

"It isn't me you have troubled. It is the boy. You robbed him, or
tried to do it, at Oak Forks, and now you have turned up here."

"I didn't know he was here. Truly I didn't."

"You didn't know I was here, or I think you would have given the place
a wide berth."

"I am very sorry for what I did, and if you'll only spare my life I'll
promise to reform."

"I haven't much faith in your promises, but I'll leave it to the boy.
Ernest, what shall I do with this man?"

Ernest had come forward, and was standing but a few feet from Luke and
his captive.

"If he promises to reform," said Ernest, "you'd better give him
another chance, Luke."

"I am not sure that I ought to, but it is you to whom he has done the
most harm. If you give him over to the miners we shall never be
troubled by him again."

Tom Burns turned pale, for he knew that life and death were in the
balance, and that those two--Luke and the boy--were to decide his
fate.

Ernest could not help pitying the trembling wretch. He was naturally
kind hearted, and at that moment he felt that he could forgive Burns
all that he had done.

"Since you have left it to me, Luke," he said, "let him go."

"It shall be as you say, Ernest."

As he spoke he released his hold, and Tom Burns stood erect. He
breathed a deep sigh of relief.

"May I go?" he asked submis