," continued French Pete.

"To see ME!" repeated Chivers. "You mean the Captain?"

"I reckon he means YOU," returned French Pete; "he said the man who
talked so purty."

The men looked at each other with a smile of anticipation, and put down
their cards. Chivers walked towards the door; one or two rose to their
feet as if to follow, but Riggs stopped them peremptorily. "Sit down,"
he said roughly; then, as Chivers passed him, he added to him in a
lower tone, "Remember."

Slightly squaring his shoulders and opening his coat, to permit a
rhetorical freedom, which did not, however, prevent him from keeping
touch with the butt of his revolver, Chivers stepped into the open air.
Collinson had been moved to the shelter of an overhang of the roof,
probably more for the comfort of the guard, who sat cross-legged on the
ground near him, than for his own. Dismissing the man with a gesture,
Chivers straightened himself before his captive.

"We deeply regret that your unfortunate determination, my dear sir, has
been the means of depriving US of the pleasure of your company, and YOU
of your absolute freedom; but may we cherish the hope that your desire
to see me may indicate some change in your opinion?"

By the light of the sentry's lantern left upon the ground, Chivers
could see that Collinson's face wore a slightly troubled and even
apologetic expression.

"I've bin thinkin'," said Collinson, raising his eyes to his captor
with a singularly new and shy admiration in them, "mebbee not so much
of WOT you said, ez HOW you said it, and it's kinder bothered me,
sittin' here, that I ain't bin actin' to you boys quite on the square.
I've said to myself, 'Collinson, thar ain't another house betwixt Bald
Top and Skinner's whar them fellows kin get a bite or a drink to help
themselves, and you ain't offered 'em neither. It ain't no matter who
they are or how they came: whether they came crawling along the road
from the valley, or dropped down upon you like them rocks from the
grade; yere they are, and it's your duty, ez long ez you keep this yer
house for your wife in trust, so to speak, for wanderers.' And I ain't
forgettin' yer ginerel soft style and easy gait with me when you kem
here. It ain't every man as could walk into another man's house arter
the owner of it had grabbed a gun, ez soft-speakin', ez overlookin',
and ez perlite ez you. I've acted mighty rough and low-down, and I
know it. And I sent for you to say that