evidently an American's, Ezekiel was instinctively
convinced that they were speaking in English only for greater security
against being understood by the frequenters of the posada. It is
unnecessary to say that this was an innocent challenge to the curiosity
of Ezekiel that he instantly accepted. He drew back carefully into the
shadow of the partition as one of the voices asked--

"Wasn't that Johnson just come in?"

There was a movement as if some one had risen to look over the
compartment, but the gathering twilight completely hid Ezekiel.

"No!"

"He's late. Suppose he don't come--or back out?"

The other man broke into a grim laugh. "I reckon you don't know Johnson
yet, or you'd understand this yer little game o' his is just the one
idea o' his life. He's been two years on that man's track, and he ain't
goin' to back out now that he's got a dead sure thing on him."

"But why is he so keen about it, anyway? It don't seem nat'ral for a
business man built after Johnson's style, and a rich man to boot, to go
into this detective business. It ain't the reward, we know that. Is it
an old grudge?"

"You bet!" The speaker paused, and then in a lower voice, which taxed
Ezekial's keen ear to the uttermost, resumed: "It's said up in Frisco
that Cherokee Bob knew suthin' agin Johnson way back in the States;
anyhow, I believe it's understood that they came across the plains
together in '50--and Bob hounded Johnson and blackmailed him here where
he was livin', even to the point of makin' him help him on the road or
give information, until one day Johnson bucked against it--kicked over
the traces--and swore he'd be revenged on Bob, and then just settled
himself down to that business. Wotever he'd been and done himself he
made it all right with the sheriff here; and I've heard ez it wasn't
anything criminal or that sort, but that it was o' some private trouble
that he'd confided to that hound Bob, and Bob had threatened to tell
agen him. That's the grudge they say Johnson has, and that's why he's
allowed to be the head devil in this yer affair. It's an understood
thing, too, that the sheriff and the police ain't goin' to interfere if
Johnson accidentally blows the top of Bob's head off in the scrimmage of
a capter."

"And I reckon Bob wouldn't hesitate to do the same thing to him when he
finds out that Johnson has given him away?"

"I reckon," said the other, sententiously, "for it's Johnson's knowledge
of the country an