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021 - Chapter 20 The Avenger · Redskin and Cow-Boy - A Tale of the Western Plains

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Speaker 1: Chapter twenty of Redskin and Cowboy, A Tale of the
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Speaker 1: Western Plains by G. A. Henty. This LibriVox recording is
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Speaker 1: in the public domain. Chapter twenty the Avenger. Hugh told
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Speaker 1: the coachman to go back to the hacienda and to
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Speaker 1: return for him late in the evening, and then went
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Speaker 1: in with Sim. The doctor smiled faintly as Hugh sat
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Speaker 1: down beside him and asked how he was getting on.
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Speaker 1: I'm getting on, lad, he said, I reckon. I shall
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Speaker 1: be there before long. Hugh affected to misunderstand him. You
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Speaker 1: must pick up strength, he said, or we shall never
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Speaker 1: carry out that expedition among the apaches. You know, if
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Speaker 1: you wait for that, you will wait a long time.
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Speaker 1: The doctor said quietly. I hope not, you said cheerily.
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Speaker 1: By the way, Sim, you told me you would tell
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Speaker 1: me of some of your adventures in the early days
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Speaker 1: of California. I am interested in that because I had
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Speaker 1: an uncle there. He was ten years or so out there.
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Speaker 1: What was his name, Latin? Sim asked. His name was
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Speaker 1: Will Tunstall. An exclamation burst from both his hearers. You
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Speaker 1: are uncle, Sim exclaimed, Well, that beats all, And to
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Speaker 1: think that we should have been all this time together,
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Speaker 1: and never known. That is your name Tunstall too, Yes,
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Speaker 1: Hugh Tonstall, to think now, doctor sim said, and we
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Speaker 1: never knowed him except as Hugh were lightning, And he
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Speaker 1: is Will Tunstall's nephew. Well, lad Bill, English Bill we
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Speaker 1: called him, was a mate of ours, and a better
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Speaker 1: mate men never worked with. You are like him, lad,
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Speaker 1: the doctor said, in a voice so different from that
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Speaker 1: in which he had spoken before that. Hugh quite started.
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Speaker 1: I thought you reminded me of someone, and now I
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Speaker 1: know it was English Bill. He was just as tall
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Speaker 1: and as straight as you are, and laughed and talked
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Speaker 1: just as you do. I wonder Sim, we didn't notice
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Speaker 1: it at once. Well, well, that is strange. Hugh was
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Speaker 1: greatly surprised. It was indeed strange that he should have
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Speaker 1: met these two mates of his uncle. Stranger still that
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Speaker 1: they should have entertained such evident affection for a man
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Speaker 1: who seemed to him to differ in characters so widely
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Speaker 1: from them. He was surprised too with the doctor's remarks
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Speaker 1: about his resemblance to his uncle, for he could see
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Speaker 1: no likeness whatever. Well, he said, I should have had
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Speaker 1: no idea that I was like my uncle. I think
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Speaker 1: you must have forgotten his figure. He is tall and muscular, certainly,
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Speaker 1: but he is much darker than I am, and I
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Speaker 1: think altogether different. The doctor and sim looked at each
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Speaker 1: other with astonishment. There must be some mistake. Sim said,
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Speaker 1: do you say your uncle is alive now? Certainly I do,
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Speaker 1: He replied in turn, surprised. Ah, then it isn't the
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Speaker 1: same man, Sim said, our Bill Tunstall was killed ten
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Speaker 1: years ago. It is odd too. Tunstall ain't a common name,
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Speaker 1: at least not in these parts. If you had ever
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Speaker 1: said your own name before, I should have noticed it
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Speaker 1: and asked you about it. But Royce always called you
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Speaker 1: Latin or Hugh. And one may know men here for
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Speaker 1: years by the name they have got without ever thinking
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Speaker 1: what name they might be born with. Is Tunstall a
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Speaker 1: common name in England latinin? The doctor asked, No, I
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Speaker 1: don't think so, Doctor, I know I ever met any others.
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Speaker 1: We came from the north of England, from Cumberland, so
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Speaker 1: did English. Bill. Sim said, never heard tell of a
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Speaker 1: chap that came out from there of that name, A tall, straight,
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Speaker 1: strong fellow like you. He must have come out before
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Speaker 1: you were born, though of course we didn't know him
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Speaker 1: for years afterwards. My uncle came out here before I
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Speaker 1: was born, you said, But I never heard of anyone
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Speaker 1: else at the same name doing so. Still, if your
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Speaker 1: friend is dead, of course it isn't the same. For
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Speaker 1: my uncle is alive, at least he was two years ago.
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Speaker 1: He is strong and active and well knit. But he
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Speaker 1: is not tall as I am, by two inches, I
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Speaker 1: should say. Lift me up in bed, sim the doctor said, excitedly.
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Speaker 1: How long ago did your uncle return? Over? Six years ago?
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Speaker 1: Hugh replied, surprised at this strange excitement upon the part
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Speaker 1: of a man who ten minutes before had seemed to
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Speaker 1: have no further interest in anything. Six years ago, Sim
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Speaker 1: you hear that? Six years ago? Gently, doctor, Gently, what
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Speaker 1: are you driving at? Asked, really alarmed at his mate's excitement.
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Speaker 1: The doctor paid no attention to him, And he had
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Speaker 1: been a great many years away, went away as a boy,
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Speaker 1: and when he came back was so changed they wouldn't
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Speaker 1: have known him. Yes, that was so, Hugh said, more
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Speaker 1: and more surprised. You hear that, sim you hear that,
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Speaker 1: the doctor exclaimed, sharply, I hear it, mate, But do
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Speaker 1: you lie down? You are not strong enough to be
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Speaker 1: exciting yourself like this, though I'm blamed if I can
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Speaker 1: see what it is about. What did he go home for?
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Speaker 1: The doctor asked, still unheeding, Sim, he went home because
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Speaker 1: my father had died, and he came in for a
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Speaker 1: considerable property, and he was one of my guardians. Do
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Speaker 1: you hear that, Sim? The doctor cried in a loud,
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Speaker 1: shrill voice that was almost a scream. Do you see
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Speaker 1: it all? Now? Just you run and call the surgeon
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Speaker 1: Lightning the docs go and clear off his head? Stop,
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Speaker 1: the doctor said, as Hugh was about to hurry off,
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Speaker 1: if Sim wasn't that thick headed, he would see what
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Speaker 1: I see. Give me a drink. Hugh handed him a
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Speaker 1: glass of lemon, which he tossed off. Now, then, Sim,
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Speaker 1: haven't I told you this young fellow was like someone
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Speaker 1: though I couldn't mind who. Don't you see it as
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Speaker 1: our mate English Bill? Yes, he is like him, Sim said,
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Speaker 1: Now you name it. He is a bit taller and
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Speaker 1: his figure is loose yet, but he will widen out
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Speaker 1: until he is just what Bill were like? What his
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Speaker 1: uncle was? The doctor broke in, don't you see, Sim,
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Speaker 1: his uncle was our mate? But how can that be? Doctor?
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Speaker 1: Don't you hear him say, as his uncle is alive
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Speaker 1: in England, and didn't we bury poor Bill. You've heard
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Speaker 1: Hughes say what his uncle came home for? What was
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Speaker 1: Bill going home for? Sim Ah Sim exclaimed suddenly, as
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Speaker 1: a light flashed across him. It was just what Lightning
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Speaker 1: has been saying. His brother was dead, and he was
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Speaker 1: going home to be guardian to his nephew, and because
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Speaker 1: he had come into an estate. Quite so, only he
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Speaker 1: never went, sim did he? No? Certainly he never went, Doc,
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Speaker 1: There's no doubt about that. But somebody did go, the
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Speaker 1: doctor said, and we know who it was, the man
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Speaker 1: who killed him and stole his papers. An exclamation of
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Speaker 1: astonishment broke from Hugh, while sim exclaimed earnestly, but thunder doctor.
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Speaker 1: But you may be right, I reckon it may be
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Speaker 1: as you say, though how you came to figure it
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Speaker 1: out beats me. That must be it. We could never
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Speaker 1: make out why he should have been killed. He had
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Speaker 1: money on him, but not enough to tempt the man
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Speaker 1: as we suspected. Suspected. No, the man we knew did it.
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Speaker 1: The doctor broke in. You see now, Lightning, how it
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Speaker 1: is it was known in camp that our mate had
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Speaker 1: come into an estate in England. He said goodbye to
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Speaker 1: us all and started, and his body was found a
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Speaker 1: few miles away. We felt pretty sure of the man
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Speaker 1: who had done it, for he was missing. He was
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Speaker 1: a gambler. Bill had been pretty thick with him for
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Speaker 1: some time, and I allow the fella had got the
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Speaker 1: whole story out of him, and knew the place he
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Speaker 1: was going to, and knew where it was, and had
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Speaker 1: wormed a whole lot out of him that might be
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Speaker 1: useful to him. Then he killed him and wasn't seen
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Speaker 1: any more in these parts. I searched for him for
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Speaker 1: a year, up and down California and Nevada and New
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Speaker 1: Mexico and down into northern Mexico, but I never came
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Speaker 1: across his track. If I had got as much as
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Speaker 1: a sign which way he had gone, I would have
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Speaker 1: hunted him down all over the world. But there was
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Speaker 1: not a sign. From the day he had left the camp,
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Speaker 1: nobody ever heard from him again. I found out he
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Speaker 1: had a wife down in southern California, a Mexican girl,
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Speaker 1: and I went down there to hunt her out, but
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Speaker 1: she had gone too, had left a few days after
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Speaker 1: he had disappeared. Now we are on his track again,
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Speaker 1: sim I guess in a week I will be up
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Speaker 1: and you and I will go straight off with this
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Speaker 1: young fellow to England and see this thing out. Lay
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Speaker 1: me down. Now, I must be quiet for a bit,
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Speaker 1: take lightning out and talk it over with him, and
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Speaker 1: tell the cook to let me have some strong suit,
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Speaker 1: for I've got to get out of this as soon
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Speaker 1: as possible. Can all this be true? Sim do you
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Speaker 1: think Hugh said or is the doctor of lightheaded? Do
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Speaker 1: you think it is possible that the man who murdered
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Speaker 1: my uncle is the one who has taking his place
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Speaker 1: all these years? It is gospel truth Latin. At least
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Speaker 1: it is gospel truth that your uncle was murdered here.
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Speaker 1: For there can't be no doubt that your uncle, Bill
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Speaker 1: Tunstall and our maid is the same man. But I
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Speaker 1: can't say whether the one as you thought was your
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Speaker 1: uncle is the one that killed him. Your description is
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Speaker 1: like enough to him. Tell me a little more about him.
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Speaker 1: He is rather dark, with a mustache, but no whiskers.
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Speaker 1: He has a quiet manner. He is slight, but gives
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Speaker 1: you the idea of being very strong. He has very white,
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Speaker 1: well made hands. He shows his teeth a little when
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Speaker 1: he smiles. But even when I first knew him, I
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Speaker 1: never liked his smile. There was something about it that
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Speaker 1: wasn't honest. And he brought over with him a Mexican wife.
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Speaker 1: That's him, sim said, in a tone of conviction. You
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Speaker 1: have just described him. He has a lot sort of
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Speaker 1: walk like a cat in a tigerish way with him
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Speaker 1: all over. There ain't a doubt that is the man,
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Speaker 1: and what is the woman like? She has always been
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Speaker 1: very kind and good to me, Hugh said, No aunt
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Speaker 1: could have been kinder. I am awfully sorry for her,
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Speaker 1: but I hated the man. That was why I left England.
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Speaker 1: I came into the room one day and found that
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Speaker 1: he had knocked his wife down, and I seized him.
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Speaker 1: Then he knocked me down and I caught up the poker.
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Speaker 1: I was no match for him then in strength. Then
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Speaker 1: he drew a pistol, but I hid him before he
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Speaker 1: could aim. And as he went down, his head came
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Speaker 1: against a sharp corner of a piece of furniture, and
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Speaker 1: I thought that I had killed him. So I bolted
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Speaker 1: at once, made my way to Hamburg and crossed to
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Speaker 1: New York. That is how I came to be here.
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Speaker 1: Has he got much of the property. Lad he has
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Speaker 1: got what was my uncle's share, he replied. Now that
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Speaker 1: I know who he is, I can understand things I
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Speaker 1: could not understand before. If I had died before I
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Speaker 1: came of age, he would have had the whole of
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Speaker 1: the property. He used to get the most vicious horses
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Speaker 1: he could sign for me to ride. And I remember
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Speaker 1: now when we were in Switzerland together. He wanted to
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Speaker 1: take me up mountains with him, but my aunt wouldn't
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Speaker 1: let me go. Then he offered to teach me pistol shooting,
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Speaker 1: but somehow he dropped that and my aunt taught me herself.
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Speaker 1: I think she must have stopped him. Thinking it all
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Speaker 1: over now, I feel sure that he must have intended
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Speaker 1: to kill me somehow, and that she managed to save
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Speaker 1: my life. There were often quarrels between them, but she
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Speaker 1: didn't seem to be afraid of him. I think that
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Speaker 1: she must have had some sort of hold over him. Well,
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Speaker 1: there is one thing, sim said, after a pause. I
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Speaker 1: believe this here discovery has saved the doctor's life. He
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Speaker 1: had made up his mind that he had done with
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Speaker 1: it and wasn't going to try to get better. Now,
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Speaker 1: you see, he is all eagerness to get on this
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Speaker 1: fellow scent. If he had been a bloodhound, he could
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Speaker 1: not have hunted the country closer than he did. For
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Speaker 1: that thar tarnal villain. He had an idea were his
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Speaker 1: business to wipe him out. And when the Doctor gets
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Speaker 1: set on an id like that, he carries it out.
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Speaker 1: It will pull him round. Now, you see, if it don't,
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Speaker 1: I do hope so indeed, sim Hugh said warmly. The
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Speaker 1: doctor is a wonderful fellow, and if it hadn't been
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Speaker 1: for him, we should never have arrived at this discovery. Well,
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Speaker 1: I am glad, of course. I am sorry to hear
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Speaker 1: that my uncle was murdered, but as I never saw him,
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Speaker 1: that does not affect me so much. But I am
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Speaker 1: glad to hear that this man whom I hated, a
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Speaker 1: man who ill treated his wife and who spent all
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Speaker 1: his time at horse racing and gambling, is not my
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Speaker 1: uncle and has no right to a share in the
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Speaker 1: property that has been in our family for so many years.
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Speaker 1: I only hope that this excitement will not do the
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Speaker 1: doctor any harm. I'm sure that it will do him good,
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Speaker 1: sim said confidently. But it were strange to see a
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Speaker 1: man who looked as if he were just dying out
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Speaker 1: wake up like that. But that has always been his way,
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Speaker 1: just as quiet as a woman at most times, but
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Speaker 1: blazing out when he felt that were a great wrong
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Speaker 1: and that it were his duty to set it right.
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Speaker 1: I can tell you now what I know about his story.
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Speaker 1: Now he knows you are English Bill's nephew, he won't
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Speaker 1: mind your knowing. Well. His story ain't anything much out
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Speaker 1: of the way. There are scores who have suffered the like,
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Speaker 1: but it didn't have the effect on them like it
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Speaker 1: did on the doctor. He is really a doctor, trained
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Speaker 1: and educated. He married out east. He wore a quiet
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Speaker 1: little fella and not fit to l around in towns,
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Speaker 1: and pushed itself forward. So he and his wife came
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Speaker 1: round and settled in California, somewhere about thirty six. There
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Speaker 1: weren't many Americans here then, as you may guess. He
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Speaker 1: settled down in the south, somewhere one hundred miles or
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Speaker 1: so from Los Angeles. He had some money of his own,
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Speaker 1: and he bought a place and planted fruit trees and
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Speaker 1: made a sort of little paradise of it. That is
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Speaker 1: what he told me. He lived on Doctrine when it
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Speaker 1: came in his way. There were some rich Mexicans about,
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Speaker 1: and he looked after most of them, but I guess
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Speaker 1: he did more among the poor. He had four children,
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Speaker 1: and things went on peaceable till forty eight. Then you know,
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Speaker 1: gold was discovered and turned Californi upside down. It brought
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Speaker 1: pretty nigh all the roughs in creation. There. They quarreled
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Speaker 1: with the Mexicans, and they quarreled with the Engines, and
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Speaker 1: there was trouble of the wust kind. There was gangs
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Speaker 1: of fellas as guests. They could make more money by
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Speaker 1: robbing the miners than they could by digging for gold,
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Speaker 1: and I reckon they was about right. And when they
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Speaker 1: weren't robbing the miners, they was plundering the Mexicans. Well,
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Speaker 1: I never heard the rights of it. The doctor never
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Speaker 1: could bring hisself to talk about that. But one day,
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Speaker 1: when he had been twenty miles away to visit a patient,
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Speaker 1: he came back and found his place burned down, and
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Speaker 1: his wife and the four children murdered. He went off
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Speaker 1: his head, and some of the people as knew him
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Speaker 1: took him down to Los Angeles, and he were a
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Speaker 1: year in the madhouse. There. He were very quiet. I
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Speaker 1: believe he used to just sit and cry. After a
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Speaker 1: time he changed. He never used to speak a word,
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Speaker 1: but just saw it with those big eyes of his
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Speaker 1: wide open, with his face working as if he's seen
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Speaker 1: an enemy. Well, after a year he got better, and
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Speaker 1: the Mexicans led him out of that madhouse. Someone had
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Speaker 1: bought his place, and the money had been banked for him.
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Speaker 1: He took it and went off. He never got to
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Speaker 1: hear who the game were as had been to his house.
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Speaker 1: I think the idea comes to him ever since when
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Speaker 1: he comes across a really bad man, that he were
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Speaker 1: one of that lot, and then he goes for him.
13:53
Speaker 1: It is either that or he believes he has got
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Speaker 1: sort of a special call to wipe out bat men.
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Speaker 1: As I told you, he he is always ready to
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Speaker 1: do a kindness to anyone. And if he is killed
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Speaker 1: over a score or more of the Westman in California,
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Speaker 1: I guess he has saved five times as many by
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Speaker 1: notushing them when they are ill. Only he will never
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Speaker 1: give them medicine. One of his ideas is that if
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Speaker 1: he hadn't gone on doctrine, he wouldn't have been away
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Speaker 1: when that game came to his house and that is
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Speaker 1: why he will never do anything as a doctor again.
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Speaker 1: He is just a nus, he says, and nothing more. Now,
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Speaker 1: don't you go for to thank lightnin that the doctor
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Speaker 1: is the least bit mad, because he ain't and never
14:31
Speaker 1: have been since I first knew him. And I should
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Speaker 1: like to see the man as would say that he were.
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Speaker 1: He is just as sensible as I am. That ain't
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Speaker 1: saying much. He is ten times as sensible. He always
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Speaker 1: knows the right thing to do, does the doctor, and
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Speaker 1: does it here just an ornary man with heaps of
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Speaker 1: good sense and just the kindest heart in the world.
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Speaker 1: Only when they're is regular downright bad man in the camp.
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Speaker 1: The doctor takes him in hand all to hisself. But sim,
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Speaker 1: I thought you were going about this gold business, this
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Speaker 1: placer directly the doctor was able to move. That has
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Speaker 1: got to wait. Sim said, Maybe someday or other, when
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Speaker 1: this business of yours is over, I may come back
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Speaker 1: and see about it. Maybe I won't. If the doctor
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Speaker 1: is going to England with you, I'm going that is sartain. Besides,
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Speaker 1: even if I would let him go alone, which aren't likely,
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Speaker 1: maybe his word wouldn't be enough. One witness wouldn't do
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Speaker 1: to swear that this man who has stepped into your
15:24
Speaker 1: uncle's shoes ain't what he pretends to be. But if
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Speaker 1: ours two of us can swear to him as being
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Speaker 1: sim As the Gambler, it'll go a long way. But
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Speaker 1: you may have trouble even then. Anyhow, don't you worry
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Speaker 1: yourself about the gold mine? Like enough, we should all
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Speaker 1: have been wiped out by the Redskins if we had
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Speaker 1: tried it. Now, I will look in and see how
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Speaker 1: the doctor is before you go. Sim returned in two minutes,
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Speaker 1: saying that the doctor had drank a bowl of soup
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Speaker 1: and had told the orderly who brought it that he
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Speaker 1: was going to sleep as he wanted to get strong.
15:52
Speaker 1: Being bound to start for a journey in a week's time,
15:55
Speaker 1: as the carriage was not to return until late, Hugh
15:58
Speaker 1: started to walk over to Don Ramons, wanted to think
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Speaker 1: over the strange news he had heard. Your friend is better,
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Speaker 1: I hope, the senora said as he entered, or you
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Speaker 1: would not have returned so soon. He is better, Signora.
16:10
Speaker 1: We have made a strange discovery that has roused him
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Speaker 1: up and given him new life, while it has closely
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Speaker 1: affected me. With your permission, I will tell it to
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Speaker 1: you all. Is it a story, Signor Hugh, the young
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Speaker 1: girl said, I love a story above all things. It
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Speaker 1: is a very curious story, Senorita, as I am sure
16:28
Speaker 1: you will agree when you hear it. But it is long.
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Speaker 1: Therefore I pray you to make yourselves comfortable before I begin.
16:35
Speaker 1: As soon as they had seated themselves, Hugh told the
16:38
Speaker 1: story of the flight of his uncle as a boy,
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Speaker 1: of his long absence and return, of the life at home,
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Speaker 1: and the quarrel that had been the cause of his
16:44
Speaker 1: own flight from home, and how he had that day
16:47
Speaker 1: discovered that his companions in their late adventure had been
16:50
Speaker 1: his uncle's comrades and friends, and how comparing notes he
16:54
Speaker 1: had found that his uncle had been murdered, and that
16:57
Speaker 1: his assassin had gone over and occupied his place in England.
17:01
Speaker 1: Many exclamations of surprise were uttered by his auditors. And
17:04
Speaker 1: what are you going to do now, Signor? I am
17:07
Speaker 1: going to start for home as soon as the doctor
17:10
Speaker 1: is well enough to travel. I should have been willing
17:12
Speaker 1: to have gone first with them upon the expedition upon
17:15
Speaker 1: which we were about to start, when your daughters were
17:17
Speaker 1: carried off, But sim Hallett would not hear of it.
17:20
Speaker 1: I intended to have had my say in the matter,
17:22
Speaker 1: Don Ramon said, and have only been waiting to complete
17:25
Speaker 1: my arrangements. I have not hurried because I knew that
17:28
Speaker 1: until your companion died or recovered, you would not be
17:31
Speaker 1: making a move. I am, as you know, Signor, a
17:34
Speaker 1: very wealthy man, wealthy even for a Mexican, and we
17:37
Speaker 1: have among us fortunes far surpassing those of rich men
17:40
Speaker 1: among the Americans. In addition to my broad lands, my
17:43
Speaker 1: flocks and herds, I have some rich silver mines in Mexico,
17:47
Speaker 1: which alone bring me in far more than we can spend.
17:51
Speaker 1: The ransom that these brigands set upon my daughters was
17:53
Speaker 1: as nothing to me, and I would have paid it
17:56
Speaker 1: five times over had I been sure of recovering them.
17:59
Speaker 1: But you see, this was what I was not sure of,
18:01
Speaker 1: and the fact that they had not asked more when
18:03
Speaker 1: they knew how wealthy I was, in itself assured me
18:06
Speaker 1: that they intended to play me false, and that it
18:09
Speaker 1: was their intention to keep them and to continue to
18:12
Speaker 1: extort further sums. You and your friends restored my daughters
18:16
Speaker 1: to me. Now, Signor, Hugh, you are an English gentleman,
18:20
Speaker 1: and I know that you would feel the offer of
18:21
Speaker 1: any reward for your inestimable service as an insult. But
18:25
Speaker 1: your three companions are in a different position. Two are
18:28
Speaker 1: miners and one is of vicro. I know well that
18:31
Speaker 1: in rendering me that service, there was no thought of
18:33
Speaker 1: gain in their minds, and that they risked their lives
18:36
Speaker 1: as freely as you did, and in the same spirit
18:38
Speaker 1: that of a simple desire to rescue women from the
18:41
Speaker 1: hands of scoundrels. That, however, makes no difference whatever in
18:45
Speaker 1: my obligation towards them. My banker yesterday received the sum
18:49
Speaker 1: in gold that I directed him to obtain to pay
18:51
Speaker 1: the ransom, and I have to day given him orders
18:54
Speaker 1: to place three sums of twenty five thousand dollars each
18:57
Speaker 1: at their disposal, so that they need no longer lead
19:00
Speaker 1: their hard and perilous life, but can settle down where
19:03
Speaker 1: they will. I know the independence of the American signor,
19:07
Speaker 1: but I rely upon you to convince these three men
19:09
Speaker 1: that they can take this money without feeling that it
19:12
Speaker 1: is payment for their services. They have given me back
19:15
Speaker 1: my daughters at the risk of their lives, and they
19:17
Speaker 1: must not refuse to allow me in turn to make
19:20
Speaker 1: them a gift which is but a small token of
19:22
Speaker 1: my gratitude, and will leave me still immeasurably their debtor.
19:27
Speaker 1: I will indeed do my best to persuade them to
19:29
Speaker 1: accept your gift, Don Ramon, and believe that I shall
19:32
Speaker 1: be able to do so. The doctor is a man
19:34
Speaker 1: of nearly sixty, and how it is getting on in years,
19:37
Speaker 1: and it would be well indeed for them now to
19:39
Speaker 1: give up the hard life they have fled for so long.
19:42
Speaker 1: As to Bill Royce, I have no doubt whatever I
19:45
Speaker 1: have heard him say many a time that his greatest
19:47
Speaker 1: ambition is to settle down in a big farm, and
19:50
Speaker 1: this will enable him to do so in a manner
19:52
Speaker 1: surpassing anything he can ever have dreamt of. And now,
19:56
Speaker 1: signor about yourself, what you have just told us renders
19:59
Speaker 1: it far more difficult than I had hitherto thought. We
20:02
Speaker 1: have talked it over, I, my wife, Carlos, and my daughters.
20:06
Speaker 1: I knew that you were a gentleman, but I did
20:08
Speaker 1: not know that you were heir to property. I thought
20:10
Speaker 1: you were like others of your countrymen, who, seeing no
20:13
Speaker 1: opening at home, had come out to make your way here.
20:16
Speaker 1: What we proposed was this to ask you whether your
20:19
Speaker 1: inclinations had turned most to cattle breeding or to mining.
20:23
Speaker 1: In either case we could have helped you on the way.
20:25
Speaker 1: Had you said ranching, I would have put you as
20:27
Speaker 1: manager on one of my largest ranches on such terms
20:30
Speaker 1: that you would in a few years have been its master.
20:33
Speaker 1: Had you said mining, I would have sent you down
20:35
Speaker 1: to my mind in Mexico there to have first learned
20:37
Speaker 1: the nature of the work, then to have become manager,
20:40
Speaker 1: and finally to have been my partner in the affair.
20:43
Speaker 1: But now what are we to do. You are going home,
20:46
Speaker 1: you have an estate awaiting you, and our intentions have
20:49
Speaker 1: come to not. I am just as much obliged to you, Senor,
20:53
Speaker 1: as if you had carried them out, Hugh said warmly,
20:56
Speaker 1: and I thank you most deeply for having so kindly
20:58
Speaker 1: proposed to advent my fortunes. Had I remained here, I
21:02
Speaker 1: would indeed have accepted gratefully one or other of your offers.
21:05
Speaker 1: As it is, I shall want for nothing, and I
21:08
Speaker 1: can assure you I feel the small share I took
21:10
Speaker 1: and the rescue of your daughters is more than repaid
21:12
Speaker 1: by the great kindness that you have shown me. The
21:15
Speaker 1: next day, Hugh explained to two of his friends the
21:18
Speaker 1: gift that Don Ramon had made them. Bill Royce, to
21:21
Speaker 1: whom he first spoke, was delighted Jehosah Fat. He exclaimed,
21:25
Speaker 1: that is something like I thought when the judge here
21:28
Speaker 1: paid us over our share of the reward for the
21:30
Speaker 1: capture of those brigands, that it was about the biggest
21:33
Speaker 1: bit of luck that I had ever heard of. But
21:35
Speaker 1: this beats all that Don Ramona is a prince. Well,
21:39
Speaker 1: no more ranching for me. I shall go back east
21:41
Speaker 1: and buy a farm. There there was a girl promised
21:43
Speaker 1: to wait for me, but as that is eight years ago,
21:46
Speaker 1: I don't suppose she has done it. Still. When I
21:49
Speaker 1: get back with twenty five thousand dollars in my pocket,
21:51
Speaker 1: I reckon I shan't be long before I find someone
21:54
Speaker 1: ready to share it with me. And you say I
21:56
Speaker 1: can walk right into that bank and draw it in gold.
21:59
Speaker 1: Yeah you can, Bill, but I shouldn't advise you to
22:02
Speaker 1: do it. How am I to take the money then?
22:04
Speaker 1: Lightn't it? The bank will give you an order on
22:07
Speaker 1: some bank in New York, and when you get there
22:09
Speaker 1: you can draw the money out as you like. Sim
22:12
Speaker 1: Hollett received the news in silence. Then he said, well, Hugh,
22:17
Speaker 1: I don't see why we shouldn't take it. As Don
22:19
Speaker 1: Ramon says, it isn't much to him, and it is
22:22
Speaker 1: a big lump of money to us. I would have
22:24
Speaker 1: fought for the gals just as willing if they had
22:26
Speaker 1: been peons. But see it as their's father's got more
22:29
Speaker 1: money than he knows what to do with. It is
22:31
Speaker 1: reasonable and natural as he should want to get rid
22:33
Speaker 1: of the obligation to us. And anyhow we saved him
22:37
Speaker 1: from having to pay two hundred thousand dollars as a beginning,
22:40
Speaker 1: and perhaps as much as that over and over again
22:42
Speaker 1: before he got them back. We had best say nothing
22:45
Speaker 1: to the doctor. Now his mind is set on one thing,
22:47
Speaker 1: and he is going to get well so as to
22:49
Speaker 1: carry it out. When that job is over, it will
22:52
Speaker 1: be time enough to tell him about this. I'm beginning
22:54
Speaker 1: to feel too stiff for work, and the doc was
22:57
Speaker 1: never good that way, and he is getting on now.
23:00
Speaker 1: I shall be able to persuade him when the time comes,
23:02
Speaker 1: and shall tell him that if he won't keep his money,
23:04
Speaker 1: I shall have to send mine back. But he is
23:06
Speaker 1: too sensible not to see as I do that it
23:09
Speaker 1: is reasonable on the part of the Don, and if
23:11
Speaker 1: he don't want it hisself, he can give it to
23:13
Speaker 1: a hospital and share mine with me. I reckon, we
23:16
Speaker 1: shall hang together as long as we both live, so
23:18
Speaker 1: you can tell the Don it is settled, and that
23:20
Speaker 1: though we had no thought of money, we won't say
23:23
Speaker 1: no to his offer. Now that the doctor had made
23:25
Speaker 1: up his mind to live, he recovered with wonderful rapidity,
23:28
Speaker 1: and in a fortnight was ready to travel. Hugh took
23:31
Speaker 1: leave of Don Ramon and his family with great regret.
23:34
Speaker 1: They were all much affected at parting with him, and
23:37
Speaker 1: he was obliged to promise that if he ever crossed
23:39
Speaker 1: the Atlantic again, he would come and pay them a visit.
23:42
Speaker 1: Prince went back to his old stable, for the party
23:44
Speaker 1: were going to travel down the Rio Grande by boat
23:47
Speaker 1: at Mata Morris, the port at its mouth. They went
23:50
Speaker 1: by a coasting steamer to Galveston, and thence by another
23:53
Speaker 1: steamer to New York. Here Royce left them, and the
23:55
Speaker 1: other three crossed by a canarder to Liverpool. The quiet
23:59
Speaker 1: and sea voyage quite restored the doctor, who was by
24:02
Speaker 1: far the most impatient of them to get to the
24:04
Speaker 1: journey's end, they had obtained a complete rig out of
24:07
Speaker 1: what sim called store clothes at New York, though Hugh
24:10
Speaker 1: had some difficulty in persuading him to adopt the white
24:13
Speaker 1: shirt of civilization. On arriving, Hugh wrote to mister Randolph
24:17
Speaker 1: saying that he had news of very great importance to
24:20
Speaker 1: communicate to him, but that he did not wish to
24:22
Speaker 1: appear at Carlisle until he had seen him, and therefore
24:25
Speaker 1: begged him to write and make an appointment to meet
24:27
Speaker 1: him at Kendall on the third day after he received
24:30
Speaker 1: the letter, the answer came in due time. It was
24:33
Speaker 1: short and characteristic. My dear Hugh, I am delighted to
24:37
Speaker 1: hear that you are back in England again. You behaved
24:40
Speaker 1: like a fool in going away, and an even greater
24:42
Speaker 1: one in staying away so long. However, I will give
24:45
Speaker 1: you my opinion more fully when I see you. I
24:48
Speaker 1: am very glad for many reasons that you have returned.
24:51
Speaker 1: I can't think what you want to say to me,
24:53
Speaker 1: but I will arrive at Kendall by the train that
24:55
Speaker 1: gets in at twelve o'clock on Thursday next When mister
24:58
Speaker 1: Randolph got out of the train, Hugh was awaiting him
25:01
Speaker 1: on the platform. Bless me, is this you, he exclaimed,
25:05
Speaker 1: as the young fellow strode up to him. You were
25:07
Speaker 1: a big lad when you left, but you are a
25:10
Speaker 1: big man now and a tunstall all over. Well, I
25:14
Speaker 1: have been gone nearly three years, you see, mister Randolph,
25:17
Speaker 1: and that makes a difference. At my age. I am
25:19
Speaker 1: past nineteen. Yes, I suppose you are now I think
25:22
Speaker 1: of it. Well, well, where are we to go? I
25:25
Speaker 1: have got a private sitting room at the hotel and
25:28
Speaker 1: have two friends there whom I want to introduce you to.
25:31
Speaker 1: When I tell you that they have come all the
25:32
Speaker 1: way with me from Mexico to do me a service,
25:35
Speaker 1: they are you will acknowledge friends worth having. Well, that
25:39
Speaker 1: looks as if there were really something in what you
25:41
Speaker 1: have got to say to me, Hugh, men, don't take
25:43
Speaker 1: such a journey as that unless for some strong reason.
25:46
Speaker 1: What are your friends for? As I have no idea
25:49
Speaker 1: what you have been doing these three years, I do
25:51
Speaker 1: not know whether you have been consorting with princes or peasants,
25:55
Speaker 1: with a little of both, mister Randolph. One of my
25:58
Speaker 1: friends is a Californian miner, and as good a specimen
26:01
Speaker 1: of one as you can meet with the other is
26:03
Speaker 1: a doctor, or rather, as I should say, has been
26:06
Speaker 1: a doctor, for he has ceased for some years to practice,
26:09
Speaker 1: and has been exploring and mining. And they have both
26:12
Speaker 1: come over purely for the sake of doing you a service.
26:15
Speaker 1: Mister Randolph asked, elevating his eyebrows a little, simply that,
26:19
Speaker 1: mister Randolph, strange as it may appear to your legal mind. However,
26:23
Speaker 1: as this is the hotel where we are putting up,
26:25
Speaker 1: you won't be kept much longer in a state of curiosity.
26:28
Speaker 1: Sim and doctor, this is my oldest friend and trusting
26:32
Speaker 1: mister Randolph. Mister Randolph, these are my two very good friends,
26:36
Speaker 1: doctor Hunter and mister sim Hollett. In the States, introductions
26:40
Speaker 1: are always performed ceremoniously, and the two men shook hands gravely.
26:43
Speaker 1: With the lawyer, I said, mister Randolph. Hughes went on
26:47
Speaker 1: that they are my good friends. I may add that
26:50
Speaker 1: they were also good friends of my late uncle William Tunstall.
26:54
Speaker 1: Of your late uncle Hugh. What are you thinking about?
26:57
Speaker 1: Why he is alive and well? And more's the pity,
27:00
Speaker 1: he muttered to himself. I know what I am saying,
27:02
Speaker 1: mister Randolph. They were dear friends of my late uncle
27:05
Speaker 1: William Tunstall, who was foully murdered in the town of
27:08
Speaker 1: Sacramento in California on his way to San Francisco in
27:12
Speaker 1: reply to your summons to return to England. Mister Randolph
27:16
Speaker 1: looked in astonishment from one face to another, as if
27:18
Speaker 1: to assure himself that he heard correctly. But their gravity
27:22
Speaker 1: showed him that he was not mistaken. Will Tunstall murdered
27:26
Speaker 1: in California, He repeated, then, who is it that the
27:31
Speaker 1: man who murdered him, and who, having possessed himself of
27:34
Speaker 1: his letters and papers, came over here and took his
27:36
Speaker 1: place a gambler of the name of Simmons. My friend
27:40
Speaker 1: obtained a warrant from the sheriff at Sacramento for his
27:43
Speaker 1: arrest on this charge of murder, and for upwards of
27:45
Speaker 1: a year, doctor Hunter traveled over California and Mexico in
27:49
Speaker 1: search of him. It never struck them that it was
27:51
Speaker 1: anything but a case of murder for the money he
27:53
Speaker 1: had on him. The idea of the step Simmons really
27:56
Speaker 1: took of personating the man he had murdered never heard
28:00
Speaker 1: to them. We met in New Mexico and wore a
28:02
Speaker 1: considerable time together before they learned that my name was Tunstall,
28:06
Speaker 1: for out there men are known either by their Christian
28:08
Speaker 1: names or by some nickname. Then at once they said
28:12
Speaker 1: they had years before had a mate of the same name,
28:14
Speaker 1: and then gradually, on comparing notes, the truth came out. Well, well, well, well,
28:22
Speaker 1: mister Randolph murmured, seating himself helplessly in a chair. This
28:26
Speaker 1: is wonderful. You have taken away my breath. This is amazing. Indeed,
28:30
Speaker 1: I can hardly take it in yet, lad, you are
28:33
Speaker 1: sure of what you were saying, quite sure that you
28:35
Speaker 1: are making no mistake. Quite certain. However, the doctor will
28:40
Speaker 1: tell you the story for himself. This the doctor proceeded
28:43
Speaker 1: to do, narrating the events at Cedar Gulch, how the
28:46
Speaker 1: murder had been discovered and the body identified, how a
28:49
Speaker 1: verdict of wilful murder against some person unknown had been
28:52
Speaker 1: returned by a coroner's jury, how he and sim Hallett
28:55
Speaker 1: had gone down to Sacramento, and how they had traced
28:58
Speaker 1: the deed to the gambler Simmons. There can be no doubt,
29:02
Speaker 1: mister Randolph said, when he concluded that it is as
29:05
Speaker 1: you say, and that this man is William Tunstall's murderer,
29:09
Speaker 1: and we shall be able to bring him to justice,
29:11
Speaker 1: shall we not? Hugh asked, that was why I wanted
29:13
Speaker 1: you to meet me here, so that we could arrange
29:15
Speaker 1: to arrest him before he had any suspicion of my return. Ah,
29:20
Speaker 1: that is a different thing altogether, Hugh. The evidence of
29:23
Speaker 1: your two friends, and the confirmation that can doubtless be
29:25
Speaker 1: obtained from Sacramento as to the existence of the gravestone
29:29
Speaker 1: erected to William Tunstall, and of the finding of the
29:32
Speaker 1: coroner's court, will no doubt enable us to prove to
29:35
Speaker 1: the satisfaction of the courts here that this scoundrel is
29:38
Speaker 1: an impostor. But the murder case is different. In the
29:42
Speaker 1: first place, you would have to bring forward the charge
29:44
Speaker 1: and give your evidence in the United States and obtain
29:47
Speaker 1: an application for his extradition. British law has no jurisdiction
29:51
Speaker 1: as to a murder committed in a foreign country. Having
29:54
Speaker 1: set the United States authorities in action, you would return
29:57
Speaker 1: here and aid in obtaining an order from a man
30:00
Speaker 1: magistrate here for that extradition. The evidence of your friends
30:03
Speaker 1: would doubtless be sufficient to induce a magistrate to grant
30:06
Speaker 1: such an order, and then he would be taken over
30:08
Speaker 1: to the States, And I suppose sent down to California
30:12
Speaker 1: to be tried there. Your friends here will be best
30:15
Speaker 1: able to judge whether any jury out there would convict
30:18
Speaker 1: a man for murder committed eight or ten years ago.
30:20
Speaker 1: Unless the very strongest evidence was forthcoming. It would be
30:25
Speaker 1: next to impossible to obtain the evidence of those people,
30:28
Speaker 1: the waiters and others from whom your friends gleaned the
30:30
Speaker 1: facts that put them upon the trail of Simmons. And
30:33
Speaker 1: without that evidence, there is no legal proof that would
30:36
Speaker 1: hang a man morally. Of course, there would seem to
30:39
Speaker 1: be no doubt about it. He and you were in
30:41
Speaker 1: the mining camp together. He knew the object for which
30:44
Speaker 1: will Tunstall was leaving for England, and that he was
30:47
Speaker 1: entitled to considerable property. Upon arriving here, he followed him
30:51
Speaker 1: down to Sacramento, or at any rate he went down.
30:54
Speaker 1: At that time they were together drinking there. Your uncle
30:57
Speaker 1: was found murdered. This man appeared here with the letters
31:00
Speaker 1: that your uncle carried and obtained possession of the estate.
31:04
Speaker 1: It is a very strong chain of evidence, and were
31:07
Speaker 1: every link proved, might suffice to hang him here. But
31:10
Speaker 1: at present you have no actual proof that Simmons ever
31:14
Speaker 1: was in Sacramento with him, or was the man he
31:17
Speaker 1: was drinking with, And even could you find the waiters
31:20
Speaker 1: and others, it is very unlikely that there would be
31:22
Speaker 1: anyone to identify him. After all this time, simmons counsel
31:26
Speaker 1: would argue that there was no proof whatever against his client,
31:30
Speaker 1: and he would of course claim that Simmons knew nothing
31:33
Speaker 1: about the murder, but that afterwards obtained the papers from
31:36
Speaker 1: the man who really committed the murder, and that the
31:39
Speaker 1: idea of coming over to England and personating Tunstall then
31:42
Speaker 1: for the first time occurred to him. So I think
31:46
Speaker 1: you would find it extremely difficult to get a verdict
31:48
Speaker 1: out in California merely on the evidence of these two gentlemen,
31:52
Speaker 1: and of my own that he was possessed of a
31:54
Speaker 1: letter I wrote to Tunstall. But in any case, if
31:57
Speaker 1: you decide to have him arrested on the charge of birth,
32:00
Speaker 1: you will have to go back to California to set
32:02
Speaker 1: the law in motion there, to get the state authorities
32:05
Speaker 1: to apply to the Supreme Authorities of the United States
32:08
Speaker 1: to make an application to our government for his arrest
32:11
Speaker 1: and extradition. You must do all this before he has
32:14
Speaker 1: any idea that you have returned, or at any rate,
32:17
Speaker 1: before he knows that you have any idea of his crime.
32:20
Speaker 1: Otherwise he will of course fly, and we shall have
32:23
Speaker 1: no means of stopping him, and he might be in
32:25
Speaker 1: Fiji before the application for his arrest was received. Here
32:28
Speaker 1: Hugh and his companions looked helplessly at each other. This
32:32
Speaker 1: was an altogether unexpected blow. They had imagined they had
32:35
Speaker 1: but to give their evidence to ensure the arrest, trial,
32:38
Speaker 1: and execution of William Tunstall's murderer. The doctor's fingers twitched,
32:43
Speaker 1: and the look that sim Hollett knew so well came
32:45
Speaker 1: into his eyes. He was about to spring to his
32:48
Speaker 1: feet when sim touched him. Wait, doctor, he said, we
32:52
Speaker 1: will talk about that afterwards. Then what do you advise,
32:55
Speaker 1: mister Randolph, Hugh asked, after a long pause. I should
32:59
Speaker 1: say that for the present we should content ourselves with
33:02
Speaker 1: arresting him on the charge of impersonation and of obtaining
33:05
Speaker 1: possession of your uncle's estate by fraud. I think the
33:08
Speaker 1: proof we now have in the evidence of these two gentlemen,
33:11
Speaker 1: and in this copy of the finding of the Coroner's jury,
33:14
Speaker 1: will be quite sufficient. To ensure his conviction, in which
33:17
Speaker 1: case he will get I should say seven years penal servitude,
33:21
Speaker 1: perhaps fourteen, for although he will not be charged with
33:24
Speaker 1: that offense, the conviction that he murdered your uncle in
33:27
Speaker 1: order to obtain possession of the estate cannot but be
33:30
Speaker 1: very strong in the mind of the judge. Yes, I
33:33
Speaker 1: should think he would give him fourteen years at least.
33:36
Speaker 1: We may, of course want some other evidence that can
33:38
Speaker 1: be obtained from Sacramento, such as an official copy of
33:41
Speaker 1: the record of the proceedings at the coroner's inquest, but
33:44
Speaker 1: that would be a matter for counsel to decide. My
33:47
Speaker 1: own opinion is that the evidence of these two gentlemen
33:50
Speaker 1: that the William Tunstall who corresponded with your father received
33:54
Speaker 1: my letter informing him of the will, and left the
33:57
Speaker 1: mining camp on his way to England and was on
34:00
Speaker 1: his way to Sacramento, was the real William Tunstall, will
34:04
Speaker 1: be quite sufficient. It is a very lucky thing for you,
34:07
Speaker 1: by the way, Hugh, that there were provisions in your
34:10
Speaker 1: father's will that if William Tunstall died without issue, his
34:14
Speaker 1: half of the property came back to you. For that
34:16
Speaker 1: clause has effectually prevented him from selling his estate, which
34:20
Speaker 1: he would have done long ago had it been possible
34:22
Speaker 1: to do so. To my knowledge, he has tried over
34:25
Speaker 1: and over again, and that clause has always prevented it.
34:29
Speaker 1: He has raised a little money on his life interest,
34:31
Speaker 1: but that will of course have no claim on the estate. Now, now,
34:35
Speaker 1: what do you say it is for you to decide?
34:38
Speaker 1: In the one case, you will have an enormous amount
34:40
Speaker 1: of trouble, and you may finally fail in getting an
34:43
Speaker 1: American jury to find this man guilty of the murder.
34:46
Speaker 1: And in any case, if they do find him so,
34:48
Speaker 1: they will not execute him for a murder committed so
34:51
Speaker 1: long ago, And it is probable that he will get
34:53
Speaker 1: off with imprisonment for life and maybe acquitted altogether. On
34:58
Speaker 1: the other hand, if you have him a rested at
35:00
Speaker 1: once here on the charge of impersonation and fraud, he
35:04
Speaker 1: is morally certain of getting a sentence which, at his
35:07
Speaker 1: age will be pretty nearly equivalent to imprisonment for life.
35:12
Speaker 1: I certainly think that is the best plan you agreed,
35:15
Speaker 1: don't you think so? He asked, turning to the others.
35:18
Speaker 1: I think so, sim Hallett said at once, and even
35:21
Speaker 1: the doctor, though less readily agreed. Since his last illness
35:25
Speaker 1: he had changed a good deal. He had no longer
35:28
Speaker 1: fits of abstraction, and was brighter and more cheerful than
35:31
Speaker 1: sim Hallett had ever seen him before. The loss of
35:33
Speaker 1: blood and the low fever that had brought him to
35:35
Speaker 1: death's door had apparently relieved his brain of a load
35:38
Speaker 1: that had for years oppressed it. Let it be, so,
35:42
Speaker 1: he said reluctantly. Had we met out in the west,
35:45
Speaker 1: it would have been different. But as it is, perhaps
35:48
Speaker 1: it is best. Late that evening, the party proceeded to Carlisle,
35:52
Speaker 1: and early the next morning mister Randolph went with the
35:54
Speaker 1: others to one of the county magistrates, and, after laying
35:57
Speaker 1: all the facts before him, obtained a warrant for the
36:00
Speaker 1: arrest of John Simmons alias William Tunstall. I must congratulate you,
36:05
Speaker 1: mister Tunstall, the magistrate said to Hugh, after he had
36:07
Speaker 1: signed the warrant. Upon your discovery, this scoundrel has been
36:11
Speaker 1: a disgrace to your name. He has been for years
36:14
Speaker 1: a consorter with betting men and black legs, and stands
36:18
Speaker 1: in the worst odor. It is said that he has
36:20
Speaker 1: mortgaged his life interest in the estates and completely ruined himself.
36:24
Speaker 1: Mister Randolph nodded, Yes, I believe he is pretty well
36:28
Speaker 1: at the end of his tether, and at any moment
36:30
Speaker 1: he might be turned out of burnside. Well, there is
36:34
Speaker 1: an end to all that the magistrates said, and the
36:36
Speaker 1: men who have proved themselves even sharper rogues than he is,
36:40
Speaker 1: will be disappointed. I am sorry for the person who
36:42
Speaker 1: has passed as your aunt, for I know that she
36:45
Speaker 1: is spoken well of by the people in the neighborhood,
36:47
Speaker 1: and I fancy she has had a very hard time
36:49
Speaker 1: of it with him. But of course she must have
36:52
Speaker 1: been his accomplice in this impersonation of your uncle. I
36:56
Speaker 1: am sorry for her, very sorry, Hugh said. She was
36:59
Speaker 1: always most kind to me, and I have reason to
37:01
Speaker 1: believe that she did all in her power to protect
37:04
Speaker 1: me from him. You see, at my death he would
37:06
Speaker 1: have inherited the whole property, and we now know that
37:09
Speaker 1: he was not a man to stick at anything. I
37:11
Speaker 1: am sure that she acted in fear of him. I
37:14
Speaker 1: have private reasons for believing so, too, mister Randolph said,
37:18
Speaker 1: for unless I am greatly mistaken, she has deposited a
37:21
Speaker 1: document that, in case of her death, would have exposed
37:25
Speaker 1: the whole plot in the hands of some legal friends
37:27
Speaker 1: of mine. However, we will not occupy your time any longer,
37:31
Speaker 1: but will start at once with a couple of constables
37:33
Speaker 1: to execute this warrant. Returning to Carlisle, mister Randolph secured
37:38
Speaker 1: the services of two constables and hiring vehicles. They started
37:41
Speaker 1: at once for Burnside. On arriving there, mister Randolph said
37:45
Speaker 1: to the servant, announce me to mister Tunstall. Do not
37:48
Speaker 1: say that I am not alone. Following him closely, they
37:51
Speaker 1: went across the hall, and as he opened the door
37:54
Speaker 1: and announced mister Randolph, the others entered. The man was
37:57
Speaker 1: standing on the hearth rug. The woman looked flushed and excited.
38:00
Speaker 1: They were evidently in the midst of a quarrel. Simmons
38:03
Speaker 1: looked up in angry surprise. When the party entered. Do
38:07
Speaker 1: your duty, mister Randolph said to one of the constables,
38:10
Speaker 1: John Simmons, I arrest you under a warrant on the
38:13
Speaker 1: charge of impersonation and fraud. A deep Mexican oath burst
38:17
Speaker 1: from the lips of the man. Then he stood quiet again.
38:21
Speaker 1: Who dares bring such a charge against me? He asked,
38:24
Speaker 1: I do Hugh said, stepping forward, and these are my witnesses,
38:28
Speaker 1: men who knew you at Cedar Gulch, and who identified
38:31
Speaker 1: the body of my murdered uncle. Traitorous Simmons exclaimed in Mexican.
38:36
Speaker 1: And in an instant his arm was stretched out, and
38:38
Speaker 1: there was a report of a pistol, and she sent
38:41
Speaker 1: you out, he exclaimed, turning to Hugh. But as he
38:44
Speaker 1: was in the act of again raising his arm, there
38:46
Speaker 1: was the report of another pistol, and he fell, shot
38:49
Speaker 1: through the brain. The others stood stupefied at the sudden catastrophe,
38:53
Speaker 1: but the doctor said quietly, I saw his hand go
38:56
Speaker 1: behind him and knew he was up to mischief. I
38:59
Speaker 1: ought not to have waited. It is always a mistake
39:02
Speaker 1: to wait in these cases. Hugh sprang forward towards the
39:05
Speaker 1: woman who had been kind to him, but she had
39:07
Speaker 1: fallen back in her chair. The gambler's bullet had done
39:10
Speaker 1: its work. It had struck her on the temple, and
39:12
Speaker 1: death had been instantaneous. The excitement in the county, with
39:16
Speaker 1: a new spread of what had taken place at Burnside
39:18
Speaker 1: was great, indeed, and the revelations made before the coroner's
39:22
Speaker 1: jury greatly added to it. They returned a verdict that
39:25
Speaker 1: Lola Simmons had been wilfully murdered by John Simmons, and
39:29
Speaker 1: that the latter had come by his death at the
39:31
Speaker 1: hands of Frank Hunter, who had justifiably shot at and
39:34
Speaker 1: killed him while opposing by armed means the officers of
39:38
Speaker 1: the law, and that no blame attaches to the said
39:40
Speaker 1: Frank Hunter. When all was over, Hugh was warmly congratulated
39:45
Speaker 1: by the gentlemen who had come in to be present
39:47
Speaker 1: at the inquest upon his recovery of the whole of
39:50
Speaker 1: his father's estate, and upon his escape from the danger
39:53
Speaker 1: he had certainly run at the hands of the murderer
39:55
Speaker 1: of his uncle. He was much affected by the death
39:58
Speaker 1: of the woman he still thought of as his aunt,
40:00
Speaker 1: and the document that she deposited at the lawyers in
40:03
Speaker 1: London showed how completely she had acted under fear of
40:06
Speaker 1: her husband, and that she had knowingly risked her life
40:09
Speaker 1: to save his. The doctor and sim Hollie remained for
40:12
Speaker 1: a fortnight with him at Burnside. He had urged upon
40:15
Speaker 1: them to make it their home for a while and
40:16
Speaker 1: to settle near him. But at the end of that
40:19
Speaker 1: time the doctor said to him one evening, sim and
40:21
Speaker 1: I have talked matters over Hugh, and we have made
40:24
Speaker 1: up our minds. I have heard from him that we
40:26
Speaker 1: are each the owners of twenty five thousand dollars. I
40:29
Speaker 1: should not have taken it had I known it at
40:31
Speaker 1: the time, but I should not like to hurt the
40:33
Speaker 1: Don's feelings by sending it back now. And perhaps it
40:36
Speaker 1: will do more good in my hands than in his.
40:39
Speaker 1: So Sim and I are going back to California. We
40:41
Speaker 1: shall buy a place near the spot where I lived
40:43
Speaker 1: so many years ago. Sim tells me he has told
40:46
Speaker 1: you the story, and there we shall finish our days.
40:49
Speaker 1: When we die, the money will go to charities. That
40:52
Speaker 1: is our plan. Lad we shall find plenty to help
40:55
Speaker 1: and what with that and a little garden, and our
40:56
Speaker 1: time will be well occupied. And Sim and I will
40:59
Speaker 1: have plenty in the past to look back upon and
41:01
Speaker 1: talk about. And so a week later they sailed. Hugh
41:04
Speaker 1: went with them to Liverpool and saw them off, and
41:06
Speaker 1: then traveled for a time on the continent, for Burnside
41:09
Speaker 1: was repugnant to him after the tragedy that had been
41:12
Speaker 1: enacted there. On his return, he went down to Norfolk
41:15
Speaker 1: and stayed for some time with Luscombe and the visit
41:17
Speaker 1: was so pleasant that it was repeated whenever he happened
41:20
Speaker 1: to be in England. Three years later he acrossed the
41:23
Speaker 1: Atlantic again. He traversed the States more easily now, for
41:26
Speaker 1: the railway across was almost completed. After spending a month
41:30
Speaker 1: in California with the Doctor and sim Hallett, whom he
41:32
Speaker 1: found well and happy, he visited Don Ramon at El Paso.
41:36
Speaker 1: There had been changes here, for both Don Carlos and
41:39
Speaker 1: his two sisters were married, and all insisted upon his
41:42
Speaker 1: being their guest for a time. His first visit after
41:45
Speaker 1: his return to England was again to Norfolk. It was
41:48
Speaker 1: a short but important one, and on its termination he
41:51
Speaker 1: went back to Burnside to give orders for many changes
41:53
Speaker 1: and alterations that were to be made with all speed
41:56
Speaker 1: in view of the coming of a new mistress. It
41:59
Speaker 1: had for some time time past been apparent to Luscombe
42:02
Speaker 1: that the remark he had laughingly made years before on
42:05
Speaker 1: the banks of the Canadian was likely to bear fruit,
42:08
Speaker 1: and that his sister Phyllis constituted no small portion of
42:11
Speaker 1: the attraction that brought Hugh down to Norfolk. Indeed, before
42:15
Speaker 1: leaving for the States, you had chatted the matter over
42:17
Speaker 1: with him. Of course you have seen Luscombe how it
42:21
Speaker 1: has been. I shall be three and twenty by the
42:23
Speaker 1: time I get back, which is quite young enough for
42:26
Speaker 1: a man to talk about marriage. As soon as I do,
42:29
Speaker 1: I shall ask Phyllis just as well to wait, Hugh.
42:32
Speaker 1: It seems to me that you and Phyllis pretty well
42:35
Speaker 1: understand each other. But I don't see any use in
42:37
Speaker 1: engagements till one can fix a date for the marriage.
42:40
Speaker 1: And as you have made up your mind to go
42:41
Speaker 1: on this trip, it will save you both a lot
42:44
Speaker 1: of trouble in the way of writing. To leave it
42:45
Speaker 1: alone until you come back. It is a horrid nuisance
42:49
Speaker 1: to keep on writing letters when you are traveling. Besides,
42:52
Speaker 1: you know the governor has strong ideas against early marriages
42:55
Speaker 1: and will think you quite young enough then, And so
42:58
Speaker 1: I should say leave it as it stands. And so
43:01
Speaker 1: Hugh had left it. But it is doubtful whether he
43:03
Speaker 1: had left Phyllis quite in ignorance of what would be
43:06
Speaker 1: said on his return. At any rate, no time was
43:09
Speaker 1: required by her before giving an answer to the question.
43:12
Speaker 1: When it was put, and two months later the marriage
43:14
Speaker 1: took place. Many as were the presents that the bride received,
43:18
Speaker 1: They were thrown completely into the shade by that which
43:21
Speaker 1: arrived as a joint gift from Don Ramon and his
43:23
Speaker 1: family a few days before the wedding, being sent by
43:26
Speaker 1: their order from Tiffany's, the Great Jeweler of New York.
43:30
Speaker 1: It consisted of a case of jewelry of extraordinary value
43:34
Speaker 1: and magnificence, and was, as mister Luscomb's Senior remarked, suitable
43:39
Speaker 1: rather for a princess of royal blood than for the
43:41
Speaker 1: wife of a Cumberland squire. The return of mister and
43:45
Speaker 1: Missus Tunstall after the termination of their honeymoon to Burnside
43:49
Speaker 1: was hailed with great rejoicing by the tenantry, who were
43:52
Speaker 1: happy to know that the old state of things had
43:54
Speaker 1: at last returned, and that a resident landlord with an
43:57
Speaker 1: English wife would in future be as established in the
44:00
Speaker 1: family mansion. The end end of chapter twenty end of
44:06
Speaker 1: Redskin and Cowboy, A Tale of the Western Plains by G. A. Hunty,
44:10
Speaker 1: read by Dorry Smith