plain what the mystery is, Jackson?"

"Well, this is what Hunky Ben says. He saw your friend go off the other
night alone to Traitor's Trap, following in the footsteps o' that
notorious outlaw Buck Tom. Feelin' sure that Buck meant to waylay your
friend, Hunky followed him up and overshot him to a place where he
thought it likely the outlaw would lay in wait. Sure enough, when he
got there he found Buck squattin' behind a big rock. So he waited to
see what would turn up and be ready to rescue your friend. An' what
d'ye think did turn up?"

"Don' know," said Dick, with a look of solemn wonder.

"Why, when Buck stepped out an' bid him throw up his hands, your friend
merely looked at Buck and said somethin' that Hunky couldn't hear, an
then Buck dropped his pistol, and your friend got off his horse, and
they shook hands and went off as thick as thieves together. An' now, as
you've seen an' heard, your friend turns up headin' a charge of the
outlaws--an' a most notable charge it was--alongside o' Buck Tom. Jake
the Flint too claims him for a comrade. Pretty mysterious all that,
ain't it?"

"May I ask," said Dick, with some scorn in his tone, "who is this Hunky
Ben, that his word should be considered as good as a bank-note?"

"He's the greatest scout an' the best an' truest man on the frontier,"
replied Jackson.

"H'm! so Miss Mary seems to think too."

"An' Mary thinks right."

"An' who may this Jake the Flint be?" asked the sailor.

"The greatest scoundrel, cattle and horse stealer, and cut-throat on the
frontier."

"So then," rejoined Dick, with some bitterness, "it would seem that my
friend and mate is taken up for an outlaw on the word o' the two
greatest men on the frontier!"

"It looks like it, Dick, coupled, of course, wi' your friend's own
actions. But never you fear, man. There must be a mistake o' some
sort, somewhere, an' it's sure to come out, for I'd as soon believe my
Mary to be an outlaw as your friend--though I never set eyes on him
before the other day. The fact is, Dick, that I've learned physiognomy
since--"

"Fizzi-what-umy?" interrupted Dick.

"Physiognomy--the study o' faces--since I came to live on the frontier,
an' I'm pretty sure to know an honest man from a rogue as soon as I see
him an' hear him speak--though I can't always prove myself right."

Dick and his host were thus conversing, and the soldiers were regaling
themselves in the hall, the commander of the troops an