said with mock
humility, "and I'm allus thankful for small mercies. _But_," he added
grimly, "when it comes down to being passed free by some pal of a hoss
thief and thet called a speshal Providence, _I aint in it_! No, sir, I
aint in it!"

II.

It was with mixed emotions that the passengers heard that a delay of
fifteen minutes to tighten certain screw-bolts had been ordered by the
autocratic Bill. Some were anxious to get their breakfast at Sugar Pine,
but others were not averse to linger for the daylight that promised
greater safety on the road. The Expressman, knowing the real cause of
Bill's delay, was nevertheless at a loss to understand the object of it.
The passengers were all well known; any idea of complicity with the road
agents was wild and impossible, and, even if there was a confederate of
the gang among them, he would have been more likely to precipitate a
robbery than to check it. Again, the discovery of such a confederate--to
whom they clearly owed their safety--and his arrest would have been
quite against the Californian sense of justice, if not actually illegal.
It seemed evident that Bill's Quixotic sense of honour was leading him
astray.

[Illustration: "'THERE WAS SUTHIN' WHITE HANGIN' FROM THE WINDOW.'"]

The station consisted of a stable, a waggon shed, and a building
containing three rooms. The first was fitted up with "bunks" or sleeping
berths for the _employes_, the second was the kitchen, and the third and
larger apartment was dining-room or sitting-room, and was used as
general waiting-room for the passengers. It was not a refreshment
station, and there was no "bar." But a mysterious command from the
omnipotent Bill produced a demi-john of whiskey, with which he
hospitably treated the company. The seductive influence of the liquor
loosened the tongue of the gallant Judge Thompson. He admitted to having
struck a match to enable the fair Pike Countian to find her ring, which,
however, proved to have fallen in her lap. She was "a fine, healthy
young woman--a type of the Far West, sir; in fact, quite a prairie
blossom! yet simple and guileless as a child." She was on her way to
Marysville, he believed, "although she expected to meet friends--a
friend--in fact, later on." It was her first visit to a large town--in
fact, any civilised centre--since she crossed the plains three years
ago. Her girlish curiosity was quite touching, and her innocence
irresistible. In fact, in a country