t you all were up to, you'd never have taken me." He claimed not to
know what was wanted of him when brought before the judges of the
Vigilante court, and solemnly declared that he had never killed a man in
all his life! They made him kiss the Bible and swear to this over again
just to see to what lengths his perjured and depraved soul would go. He
swore on the Bible with perfect calmness! His captors were not moved by
this, and indeed Helm was little expectant that they would be. He called
aside one of them whom he knew, declined a clergyman, and confessed to a
murder or so in Missouri and in California, admitted that he had been
imprisoned once or twice, but denied that he had been a road agent. He
accused some of his warmest friends of the latter crime. Jack Gallegher,
also under arrest, heard him thus incriminate himself and others of the
gang and called him all the names in the calendar, telling him he ought
to die.

"I have looked at death in all forms," said Helm, coolly, "and I am not
afraid to die." He then asked for a glass of whiskey, as did a good many
of these murderers when they were brought to the gallows. From that time
on he was cool and unconcerned, and showed a finish worthy of one
ambitious to be thought wholly bad.

There were six thousand men assembled in Virginia City to see the
executions of these criminals, who were fast being rounded up and hung
by the citizens. The place of execution was in a half-finished log
building. The ropes were passed over the ridge-pole, and, as the front
of the building was open, a full view was offered of the murderers as
they stood on the boxes arranged for the drops. Boone Helm looked around
at his friends placed for death, and told Jack Gallegher to "stop making
such a fuss." "There's no use being afraid to die," said he; and indeed
there probably never lived a man more actually devoid of all sense of
fear. He valued neither the life of others nor his own. He saw that the
end had come, and was careless about the rest. He had a sore finger,
which was tied up, and this seemed to trouble him more than anything
else. There was some delay about the confessions and the last offices of
those who prayed for the condemned, and this seemed to irritate Boone
Helm.

"For God's sake," said he, "if you're going to hang me, I want you to do
it and get through with it. If not, I want you to tie up my finger for
me."

"Give me that overcoat of yours, Jack," he said to Galleghe