might add, by way of explainin', that if you had come to Arizona an'
minded your own business you wouldn't have been interfered with. You
mighta preached whatever bosh you darned pleased so far as we was
concerned, only you wouldn't have had no sorta audience after the first
try of that stuff you give to-day. But when you come to Arizona an' put
your fingers in other folks' pie, when you tried to 'squeal' on the
young gentleman who was keen enough to shoot out the lights to save a
man's life, why, we 'ain't no further use for you. In the first place,
you was all wrong. You thought the Kid shot out the lights to steal the
gamin'-money; but he didn't. He put it all in the hands of the sheriff
some hours before your 'private information' reached him through the
mail. You thought you were awful sharp, you little sneak! But I wasn't
the only man present who saw you put your foot out an' cover a gold
piece that rolled on the floor just when the fight began. You thought
nobody was a-lookin', but you'll favor us, please, with that identical
gold piece along with the letter before you leave. Well, boys, that'll
be about all, then. Untie him!"

In silence and with a kind of contemptuous pity in their faces the
strong men stooped and unbound him; then, without another word, they
left him, tramping solemnly away single file to their horses, standing
at a little distance.

Jasper Kemp lingered for a moment, looking down at the wretched man.
"Would you care to have us carry you back to the house?" he asked,
reflectively.

"No!" said the minister, bitterly. "No!" And without another word Jasper
Kemp left him.

Into the mesquite-bushes crept the minister, his glory all departed, and
hid his misery from the light, groaning in bitterness of spirit. He who
had made the hearts of a score of old ministers to sorrow for Zion, who
had split in two a pleasantly united congregation, disrupted a session,
and brought about a scandalous trial in Presbytery was at last
conquered. The Rev. Frederick West had recanted!

CHAPTER XVII

When Margaret left the school-house with Bud she had walked but a few
steps when she remembered Mom Wallis and turned back to search for her;
but nowhere could she find a trace of her, and the front of the
school-house was as empty of any people from the camp as if they had not
been there that morning. The curtain had not yet risen for the scene of
the undoing of West.

"I suppose she must have gone home