by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XX.
THE AVENGER.
Hugh told the coachman to go back to the hacienda, and to return forhim late in the afternoon, and then went in with Sim. The doctor smiledfaintly as Hugh sat down beside him and asked how he was getting on.
"I am getting on, lad," he said. "I reckon I shall be there beforelong."
Hugh affected to misunderstand him.
"You must pick up strength," he said, "or we shall never carry out thatexpedition among the Apaches, you know."
"If you wait for that you will wait a long time," the doctor saidquietly.
"I hope not," Hugh said cheerily. "By the way, Sim, you told me youwould tell me some of your adventures in the early days of California.I am interested in that, because I had an uncle there. He was ten yearsor so out there."
"What was his name, Lightning?" Sim asked.
"His name was Will Tunstall."
An exclamation burst from both his hearers.
"Your uncle!" Sim exclaimed. "Waal, that beats all, and to think thatwe should have been all this time together and never known that. Isyour name Tunstall too?"
"Yes, Hugh Tunstall."
"To think now, doctor!" Sim said; "and we never knowed him exceptas Hugh or Lightning, and he is Will Tunstall's nephew. Why, lad,Bill--English Bill we called him--was a mate of ours, and a better matemen never worked with."
"You are like him, lad," the doctor said in a voice so different fromthat in which he had before spoken that Hugh quite started. "I thoughtyou reminded me of someone, and now I know. It was English Bill. He wasjust as tall and as straight as you are, and laughed and talked just asyou do. I wonder, Sim, we didn't notice it at once. Well, well, that isstrange!"
Hugh was greatly surprised. It was indeed strange that he should havemet these two mates of his uncle. Stranger still that they shouldhave entertained such evident affection for a man who seemed to him todiffer in character so widely from them. He was surprised, too, at thedoctor's remarks about his resemblance to his uncle, for he could seeno likeness whatever.
"Well," he said, "I should have had no idea that I was like my uncle.I think you must have forgotten his figure. He is tall and muscularcertainly, but he is much darker than I am, and, I think, altogetherdifferent."
The doctor and Sim looked at each other with astonishment.
"There must be some mistake," Sim said. "Do you say your uncle is alivenow?"
"Certainly I do," Hugh replied, in turn surprised.
"Ah! then, it isn't the same man," Sim said. "Our Bill Tunstall waskilled ten years ago. It is odd, too; Tunstall ain't a common name, atleast not in these parts. If you had ever said your own name before Ishould have noticed it, and asked you about it; but Royce always calledyou Lightning, or Hugh, and one may know men here for years by the namethey have got without ever thinking what name they might be born with."
"Is Tunstall a common name in England, Lightning?" the doctor asked.
"No, I don't think so, doctor. I never met any others. We came from thenorth of England, from Cumberland."
"So did English Bill," Sim said. "Never heard tell of a chap that cameout from there of that name, a tall, straight, strong fellow like you?He must have come out before you wur born, though, of course, we didn'tknow him for years afterwards."
"My uncle came out here before I was born," Hugh said; "but I neverheard of anyone else of the same name doing so; still, if your friendis dead, of course it isn't the same, for my uncle is alive. At leasthe was two years ago. He is strong, and active, and well knit; but heis not as tall as I am by two inches, I should say."
"Lift me up in bed, Sim," the doctor said excitedly. "How long ago didyour uncle return?"
"Over six years ago," Hugh replied, surprised at this strangeexcitement upon the part of a man who, ten minutes before, had seemedto have no further interest in anything.
"Six years ago, Sim? You hear that; six years ago!"
"Gently, doctor, gently; what are you driving at?" Sim asked, reallyalarmed at his mate's excitement.
The doctor paid no attention to him. "And he had been a great manyyears away? Went away as a boy, and when he came back was so changedthey wouldn't have known him?"
"Yes, that was so," Hugh said, more and more surprised.
"You hear that, Sim? you hear that?" the doctor exclaimed sharply.
"I hear it, mate, but do you lie down. You are not strong enough to beexciting yourself like this, though I am blamed if I can see what it isabout."
"What did he go home for?" the doctor asked, still unheeding Sim.
"He went home because my father had died, and he came in for aconsiderable property, and he was one of my guardians."
"Do you hear that, Sim?" the doctor cried in a loud shrill voice thatwas almost a scream; "do you see it all now?"
"Just you run and call the surgeon, Lightning; the doc's going clearoff his head."
"Stop!" the doctor said, as Hugh was about to hurry off. "If Sim wasn'tthat thick-headed he would see what I see. Give me a drink."
Hugh handed him a glass of lemonade, which he tossed off.
"Now, then, Sim, haven't I told you this young fellow was like someone,though I couldn't mind who. Don't you see it is our mate, EnglishBill?"
"Yes, he is like him," Sim said, "now you name it. He is a bit taller,and his figure is loose yet, but he will widen out ontil he is justwhat Bill wur."
"Like what his uncle was," the doctor broke in; "don't you see, Sim,his uncle was our mate."
"But how can that be, doctor? Don't you hear him say as his uncle isalive in England, and didn't we bury poor Bill?"
"You've heard Hugh say what his uncle came home for. What was Billgoing home for, Sim?"
"Ah!" Sim exclaimed suddenly, as a light flashed across him, "it wasjust what Lightning has been saying. His brother was dead, and he wasgoing home to be guardian to his nephew; and because he had come intoan estate."
"Quite so, only he never went, Sim; did he?"
"No, certainly he never went, doc. There is no doubt about that."
"But somebody did go," the doctor said, "and we know who it was. Theman who killed him and stole his papers."
An exclamation of astonishment broke from Hugh, while Sim exclaimedearnestly:
"By thunder, doctor, but you may be right! I reckon it may be as yousay, though how you came to figure it out beats me. That must be it.We never could make out why he should have been killed. He had money onhim, but not enough to tempt the man as we suspected."
"Suspected? No! the man we knew did it," the doctor broke in. "You seenow, Lightning, how it is. It was known in camp that our mate had comeinto an estate in England. He said good-bye to us all and started, andhis body was found a few miles away. We felt pretty sure of the man whohad done it, for he was missing. He was a gambler. Bill had been prettythick with him for some time, and I allow the fellow had got the wholestory out of him, and knew the place he was going to, and knew where itwas, and had wormed a whole lot out of him that might be useful to him.Then he killed him, and wasn't seen any more in these parts. I searchedfor him for a year up and down California, and Nevada, and New Mexico,and down into Northern Mexico, but I never came across his track. IfI had got as much as a sign which way he had gone, I would have huntedhim down all over the world; but there was not a sign from the day hehad left the camp. Nobody ever heard of him again. I found out he had awife down in Southern California, a Mexican girl, and I went down thereto hunt her out, but she had gone too--had left a few days after he haddisappeared. Now we are on his track again, Sim. I guess in a week Iwill be up, and you and I will go straight off with this young fellowto England, and see this thing out. Lay me down now. I must be quietfor a bit. Take Lightning out and talk it over with him, and tell thecook to let me have some strong soup, for I have got to get out of thisas soon as possible."
"Can all this be true, Sim, do you think?" Hugh said; "or is the doctorlight-headed? Do you think it is possible that the man
who murdered myuncle is the one who has taken his place all these years."
"It is gospel truth, Lightning. At least it is gospel truth that youruncle was murdered here, for there can't be no doubt that your uncleBill Tunstall and our mate is the same man; but I can't say whetherthe one as you thought was your uncle is the one that killed him. Yourdescription is like enough to him. Tell me a little more about him."
"He is rather dark, with a moustache but no whiskers; he has a quietmanner; he is slight, but gives you the idea of being very strong. Hehas very white well-made hands. He shows his teeth a little when hesmiles, but even when I first knew him I never liked his smile; therewas something about it that wasn't honest. And he brought over with hima Mexican wife."
"That's him," Sim said in a tone of conviction; "you have justdescribed him. He has a light sort of walk like a cat, and a tigerishway with him all over. There ain't a doubt that is the man. And what isthe woman like?"
"She has always been very kind and good to me," Hugh said. "No auntcould have been kinder. I am awfully sorry for her, but I hated theman. That was why I left England. I came into the room one day andfound that he had knocked his wife down, and I seized him. Then heknocked me down, and I caught up the poker. I was no match for him thenin strength. Then he drew a pistol, but I hit him before he could aim;and as he went down his head came against a sharp corner of a piece offurniture, and I thought that I had killed him, so I bolted at once,made my way to Hamburg, and crossed to New York. That is how I came tobe here."
"Has he got much of the property, lad?"
"He has got what was my uncle's share," Hugh replied. "Now that I knowwho he is I can understand things. I could not understand before. IfI had died before I came of age he would have had the whole of theproperty. He used to get the most vicious horses he could find for meto ride, and I remember now when we were in Switzerland together hewanted to take me up mountains with him, but my aunt wouldn't let mego. Then he offered to teach me pistol-shooting, but somehow he droppedthat, and my aunt taught me herself. I think she must have stopped him.Thinking it all over now, I feel sure that he must have intended tokill me somehow, and that she managed to save my life. There were oftenquarrels between them, but she didn't seem to be afraid of him. I thinkthat she must have had some sort of hold over him."
"Waal, there is one thing," Sim said after a pause; "I believe thishere discovery has saved the doctor's life. He had made up his mindthat he had done with it, and wasn't going to try to get better. Now,you see, he is all eagerness to get on this fellow's scent. If he hadbeen a blood-hound he could not have hunted the country closer than hedid for that thar tarnal villain. He had an idee it wur his businessto wipe him out, and when the doctor gets set on an idee like that hecarries it out. It will pull him round now, you see if it don't."
"I do hope so, indeed, Sim," Hugh said warmly. "The doctor is awonderful fellow, and if it hadn't been for him we should never havearrived at this discovery. Well, I am glad. Of course I am sorry tohear that my uncle was murdered, but as I never saw him that does notaffect me so much; but I am glad to hear that this man whom I hated, aman who ill-treated his wife and who spent all his time at horse-racingand gambling, is not my uncle, and has no right to a share in theproperty that has been in our family for so many years. I only hopethat this excitement will not do the doctor any harm."
"I am sure that it will do him good," Sim said confidently; "but itwur strange to see a man who looked as if he wur just dying out wake uplike that; but that has always been his way; just as quiet as a womanat most times, but blazing out when he felt thar wur a great wrong, andthat it wur his duty to set it right. I can tell you now what I knowabout his story. Now he knows you are English Bill's nephew he won'tmind your knowing. Waal, his story ain't anything much out of the way.There are scores who have suffered the like, but it didn't have theeffect on them like it did on the doctor.
"He is really a doctor trained and edicated. He married out east. Hewur a quiet little fellow, and not fit to hustle round in towns andpush hisself forward; so he and his wife came round and settled inCaliforny somewhere about '36. Thar wurn't many Americans here then, asyou may guess. He settled down in the south somewhere a hundred milesor so from Los Angeles. He had some money of his own, and he boughta place and planted fruit trees and made a sort of little paradise ofit. That is what he told me he lived on, doctoring when it came in hisway. There wur some rich Mexicans about, and he looked after most ofthem; but I guess he did more among the poor. He had four children, andthings went on peaceable till '48. Then you know gold was discovered,and that turned Californy upside down.
"It brought pretty nigh all the roughs in creation there. Theyquarrelled with the Mexikins, and they quarrelled with the Injuns, andthere was trouble of the wust kind.
"There was gangs of fellows as guessed they could make more money byrobbing the miners than they could by digging for gold, and I reckonthey was about right; and when they warn't robbing the miners theywas plundering the Mexikins. Waal, I never heard the rights of it,the doctor never could bring hisself to talk about that, but one daywhen he had been twenty miles away to visit a patient, he came backand found his place burned down, and his wife and the four childrenmurdered. He went off his head, and some of the people as knew him tookhim down to Los Angeles, and he wur a year in the madhouse thar. He wurvery quiet. I believe he used ter just sit and cry.
"After a time he changed. He never used to speak a word, but just sotwith those big eyes of his wide open; with his face working, as ifhe seen an enemy. Waal, after a year he got better, and the Mexikinslet him out of that madhouse. Someone had bought his place, and themoney had been banked for him. He took it and went off. He never gotto hear who the gang wur as had been to his house. I think the ideecomes to him ever since when he comes across a really bad man, that hewur one of that lot, and then he goes for him. It is either that, orhe believes he has got a sort of special call to wipe out bad men. AsI told you, he is always ready to do a kindness to anyone, and ef hehas killed over a score or more of the wust men in Californy, I guesshe has saved five times as many by nussing them when they are ill, onlyhe will never give them medicine. One of his idees is that if he hadn'tgone on doctoring, he wouldn't have been away when that gang came tohis house, and that is why he will never do anything as a doctor again.He is just a nuss, he says, and nothing more.
"Now, don't you go for to think, Lightning, that the doctor is theleast bit mad, because he ain't, and never have been since I first knewhim, and I should like to see the man as would say that he wur. He isjust as sensible as I am; that ain't saying much; he is ten times assensible. He always knows the right thing to do, does the doctor, anddoes it. He air just an ornary man, with heaps of good sense, and justthe kindest heart in the world, only when thar is a regular downrightbad man in the camp, the doctor takes him in hand all to hisself."
"But, Sim, I thought you were going about this gold business, thisplacer, directly the doctor was able to move."
"That has got to wait," Sim said. "Maybe some day or other, when thisbusiness of yours is over, I may come back and see about it; maybe Iwon't. Ef the doctor is going to England with you, I am going; thatis sartin. Besides, even if I would let him go alone, which aren'tlikely, maybe his word wouldn't be enough. One witness wouldn't do toswear that this man who has stepped into your uncle's shoes ain't whathe pretends to be; but if thar is two of us can swear to him as beingSymonds the gambler, it'll go a long way. But you may have trouble eventhen. Anyhow, don't you worry yourself about the gold-mine. Like enoughwe should all have been wiped out by the Red-skins ef we had tried it.Now I will just look in and see how the doctor is afore you go."
Sim returned in two minutes, saying that the doctor had drank a bowlof soup, and had told the orderly who brought it that he was going tosleep, as he wanted to get strong, being bound to start for a journeyin a week's time.
As the carriage was not to return until late, Hugh started to walkover to Don Ramon's, as he wanted to think
over the strange news he hadheard.
"Your friend is better, I hope," the senora said as he entered, "or youwould not have returned so soon."
"He is better, senora. We have made a strange discovery that has rousedhim up, and given him new life, while it has closely affected me. Withyour permission I will tell it to you all."
"Is it a story, Senor Hugh?" the younger girl said. "I love a storyabove all things."
"It is a very curious story, senorita, as I am sure you will agree whenyou hear it; but it is long, therefore, I pray you to make yourselvescomfortable before I begin."
As soon as they had seated themselves, Hugh told the story of theflight of his uncle as a boy, of his long absence and return; of thelife at home, and the quarrel that had been the cause of his own flightfrom home; and how he had that day discovered that his companions intheir late adventure had been his uncle's comrades and friends; andhow, comparing notes, he had found that his uncle had been murdered,and that his assassin had gone over and occupied his place in England.Many exclamations of surprise were uttered by his auditors.
"And what are you going to do now, senor?"
"I am going to start for home as soon as the doctor is well enough totravel. I should have been willing to have first gone with them uponthe expedition upon which we were about to start when your daughterswere carried off, but Sim Howlett would not hear of it."
"I intended to have had my say in the matter," Don Ramon said, "andhave only been waiting to complete my arrangements. I have not hurried,because I knew that until your companion died or recovered, youwould not be making a move. I am, as you know, senor, a very wealthyman, wealthy even for a Mexican, and we have among us fortunes farsurpassing those of rich men among the Americans. In addition to mybroad lands, my flocks and herds, I have some rich silver mines inMexico which alone bring me in far more than we can spend. The ransomthat these brigands set upon my daughters was as nothing to me, and Iwould have paid it five times over had I been sure of recovering them;but, you see, this was what I was not sure of, and the fact that theyhad not asked more when they knew how wealthy I was, in itself assuredme that they intended to play me false, and that it was their intentionto keep them and to continue to extort further sums.
"You and your friends restored my daughters to me. Now, Senor Hugh,you are an English gentleman, and I know that you would feel the offerof any reward for your inestimable services as an insult; but yourthree companions are in a different position, two are miners and oneis a vaquero. I know well that in rendering me that service, there wasno thought of gain in their minds, and that they risked their livesas freely as you did, and in the same spirit, that of a simple desireto rescue women from the hands of scoundrels. That, however, makes nodifference whatever in my obligation towards them.
"My banker yesterday received the sum in gold that I directed him toobtain to pay the ransom, and I have to-day given him orders to placethree sums of 25,000 dollars each at their disposal, so that theyneed no longer lead their hard and perilous life, but can settle downwhere they will. I know the independence of the Americans, senor, butI rely upon you to convince these three men that they can take thismoney without feeling that it is a payment for their services. Theyhave given me back my daughters at the risk of their lives, and theymust not refuse to allow me in turn to make them a gift, which is but asmall token of my gratitude, and will leave me still immeasurably theirdebtor."
"I will indeed do my best to persuade them to accept your gift, DonRamon, and believe that I shall be able to do so. The doctor is a manof nearly sixty, and Howlett is getting on in years, and it would bewell indeed for them now to give up the hard life they have led for solong. As to Bill Royce, I have no doubt whatever. I have heard him saymany a time that his greatest ambition is to settle down in a big farm,and this will enable him to do so in a manner surpassing anything hecan ever have dreamt of."
"And now, senor, about yourself. What you have just told us renders itfar more difficult than I had hitherto thought. We have talked it over,I, my wife, Carlos, and my daughters. I knew that you were a gentleman,but I did not know that you were the heir to property. I thought youwere, like others of your countrymen, who, seeing no opening at home,had come out to make your way here. What we proposed was this. To askyou whether your inclinations had turned most to cattle breeding or tomining. In either case we could have helped you on the way. Had yousaid ranching, I would have put you as manager on one of my largestranches on such terms that you would in a few years have been itsmaster. Had you said mining, I would have sent you down to my mine inMexico there to have first learned the nature of the work, then to havebecome manager, and finally to have been my partner in the affair. Butnow, what are we to do? You are going home. You have an estate awaitingyou, and our intentions have come to naught."
"I am just as much obliged to you, senor, as if you had carried themout," Hugh said warmly, "and I thank you most deeply for having sokindly proposed to advance my fortunes. Had I remained here I wouldindeed have accepted gratefully one or other of your offers. As it isI shall want for nothing, and I can assure you I feel that the smallshare I took in the rescue of your daughters is more than repaid by thegreat kindness that you have shown me."
The next day Hugh explained to two of his friends the gift that DonRamon had made them. Bill Royce, to whom he first spoke, was delighted."Jehosaphat!" he exclaimed, "that is something like. I thought whenthe judge here paid us over our share of the reward for the capture ofthose brigands, that it was about the biggest bit of luck that I hadever heard of; but this beats all. That Don Ramon is a prince. Well,no more ranching for me. I shall go back east and buy a farm there.There was a girl promised to wait for me, but as that is eight yearsago, I don't suppose she has done it; still when I get back with 25,000dollars in my pocket, I reckon I sha'n't be long before I find someoneready to share it with me. And you say I can walk right into that bankand draw it in gold?"
"Yes, you can, Bill, but I shouldn't advise you to do it."
"How am I to take the money, then, Lightning?"
"The bank will give you an order on some bank in New York, and when youget there you can draw the money out as you like."
Sim Howlett received the news in silence. Then he said: "Waal, Hugh,I don't see why we shouldn't take it; as Don Ramon says it isn't muchto him, and it is a big lump of money to us. I would have fought forthe gals just as willing if they had been _peons_; but seeing as theirfather's got more money than he knows what to do with, it is reasonableand natural as he should want to get rid of the obligation to us, andanyhow we saved him from having to pay 200,000 dollars as a beginning,and perhaps as much as that over and over again, afore he got themback. We had best say nothing to the doctor now his mind is set on onething, and he is going to get well so as to carry it out; when that jobis over it will be time enough to tell him about this. I am beginningto feel too stiff for work, and the doc. was never any good that way,and he is getting on now. I shall be able to persuade him when the timecomes, and shall tell him that if he won't keep his money, I shall haveto send back mine. But he is too sensible not to see, as I do, that itis reasonable on the part of the don, and if he don't want it hisself,he can give it to a hospital and share mine with me. I reckon we shallhang together as long as we both live; so you can tell the don it issettled, and that though we had no thought of money, we won't say no tohis offer."
Now that the doctor had made up his mind to live, he recovered withwonderful rapidity, and in a fortnight was ready to travel.
Hugh took leave of Don Ramon and his family with great regret; theywere all much affected at parting with him, and he was obliged topromise that if ever he crossed the Atlantic again he would come andpay them a visit. Prince went back to his old stable, for the partywere going to travel down the Rio Grande by boat. At Matamoras, theport at its mouth, they went by a coasting steamer to Galveston,and thence by another steamer to New York. Here Royce left them,and the other three crossed by a Cunarder to Liverpool. The quietan
d sea-voyage quite restored the doctor, who was by far the mostimpatient of them to get to the journey's end. They had obtained acompete rig-out of what Sim called store-clothes at New York, thoughHugh had some difficulty in persuading him to adopt the white shirt ofcivilization.
On arriving Hugh wrote to Mr. Randolph saying that he had news of verygreat importance to communicate to him, but that he did not wish toappear at Carlisle until he had seen him, and therefore begged him towrite and make an appointment to meet him at Kendal on the third dayafter he received the letter. The answer came in due time. It was shortand characteristic: "My dear Hugh, I am delighted to hear that you areback in England again. You behaved like a fool in going away, and aneven greater one in staying away so long. However I will give you myopinion more fully when I see you. I am very glad, for many reasons,that you have returned. I can't think what you want to say to me,but will arrive at Kendal by the train that gets in at 12 o'clock onThursday next."
When Mr. Randolph got out of the train at Kendal, Hugh was awaiting himon the platform.
"Bless me! is this you?" he exclaimed, as the young fellow strode up tohim. "You were a big lad when you left, but you are a big man now, anda Tunstall all over."
"Well, I have been gone nearly three years, you see, Mr. Randolph, andthat makes a difference at my age. I am past nineteen."
"Yes, I suppose you are, now I think of it. Well, well, where are we togo?"
"I have got a private sitting-room at the hotel, and have two friendsthere whom I want to introduce you to; when I tell you that they havecome all the way with me from Mexico to do me a service, they are, youwill acknowledge, friends worth having."
"Well, that looks as if there were really something in what you havegot to say to me, Hugh; men don't take such a journey as that unlessfor some strong reason. What are your friends? for as I have no ideawhat you have been doing these three years, I do not know whether youhave been consorting with princes or peasants."
"With a little of both, Mr. Randolph; one of my friends is aCalifornian miner, and as good a specimen of one as you can meet with;the other is a doctor, or rather, as I should say, has been a doctor,for he has ceased for some years to practise, and has been exploringand mining."
"And they have both come over purely for the sake of doing you aservice?" Mr. Randolph asked, elevating his eyebrows a little.
"Simply that, Mr. Randolph, strange as it may appear to your legalmind. However, as this is the hotel where we are putting up, you won'tbe kept much longer in a state of curiosity."
"Sim and Doctor, this is my oldest friend and trustee, Mr. Randolph.Mr. Randolph, these are my two very good friends, Doctor Hunter andMr. Sim Howlett." In the States introductions are always performedceremoniously, and the two men shook hands gravely with the lawyer. "Isaid, Mr. Randolph," Hugh went on, "that they were my good friends. Imay add that they were also the good friends of my late uncle, WilliamTunstall."
"Of your late uncle, Hugh! What are you thinking about? Why, he isalive and well; and more's the pity," he muttered to himself.
"I know what I am saying, Mr. Randolph. They were the dear friends ofmy late uncle, William Tunstall, who was foully murdered in the townof Sacramento, in California, on his way to San Francisco, in reply toyour summons to return to England."
Mr. Randolph looked in astonishment from one face to another as if toassure himself that he heard correctly, but their gravity showed himthat he was not mistaken.
"Will Tunstall murdered in California!" he repeated; "then who is itthat--"
"The man who murdered him, and who, having possessed himself of hisletters and papers, came over here and took his place; a gambler ofthe name of Symonds. My friend obtained a warrant from the sheriff atSacramento for his arrest on this charge of murder, and for upwardsof a year Dr. Hunter travelled over California and Mexico in searchof him. It never struck them that it was anything but a case of murderfor the money he had on him. The idea of the step Symonds really took,of personating the man he had murdered, never occurred to them. Wemet in New Mexico, and were a considerable time together before theylearned that my name was Tunstall, for out there men are known eitherby their Christian names or by some nickname. Then at once they saidthey had years before had a mate of the same name, and then graduallyon comparing notes the truth came out."
"Well--well--well--well!" Mr. Randolph murmured, seating himselfhelplessly in a chair; "this is wonderful. You have taken away mybreath; this is amazing indeed; I can hardly take it in yet, lad. Youare sure of what you are saying? Quite sure that you are making nomistake?"
"Quite certain. However, the doctor will tell you the story forhimself." This the doctor proceeded to do, narrating the eventsat Cedar Gulch; how the murder had been discovered, and the bodyidentified; how a verdict of wilful murder against some person unknownhad been returned by a coroner's jury; how he and Sim Howlett had gonedown to Sacramento, and how they had traced the deed to the gamblerSymonds.
"There can be no doubt," Mr. Randolph said when he concluded, "that itis as you say, and that this man is William Tunstall's murderer."
"And we shall be able to bring him to justice, shall we not?" Hughasked. "That was why I wanted you to meet me here, so that we couldarrange to arrest him before he had any suspicion of my return."
"Ah! that is a different thing altogether, Hugh. The evidence of yourtwo friends and the confirmation that can doubtless be obtained fromSacramento as to the existence of the gravestone erected to WilliamTunstall, and of the finding of the coroner's court, will no doubtenable us to prove to the satisfaction of the courts here that thisscoundrel is an impostor. But the murder case is different.
"In the first place you would have to bring forward the charge, andgive your evidence in the United States, and obtain an applicationfor his extradition. British law has no jurisdiction as to amurder committed in a foreign country. Having set the United Statesauthorities in action, you would return here and aid in obtaining anorder from a magistrate here for that extradition; the evidence ofyour friends would doubtless be sufficient to induce a magistrate togrant such an order, then he would be taken over to the States, and, Isuppose, sent down to California to be tried there. Your friends herewill be best able to judge whether any jury out there would convicta man for a murder committed eight or ten years ago, unless the verystrongest evidence was forthcoming.
"It would be next to impossible to obtain the evidence of those people,the waiters and others, from whom your friends gleaned the facts thatput them upon the trail of Symonds, and without that evidence thereis no legal proof that would hang a man. Morally, of course, therewould seem to be no doubt about it. He and you were in the mining camptogether, he knew the object for which Will Tunstall was leaving forEngland, and that he was entitled to considerable property on arrivinghere. He followed him down to Sacramento, or at any rate he went downat that time. They were together drinking; there your uncle was foundmurdered; this man appeared here with the letters that your unclecarried, and obtained possession of the estate.
"It is a very strong chain of evidence, and were every link provedmight suffice to hang him here; but at present you have no actualproof that Symonds ever was in Sacramento with him, or was the man hewas drinking with; and even could you find the waiters and others, itis very unlikely that there would be any one to identify him afterall this time. Symonds' counsel would argue that there was no proofwhatever against his client, and he would, of course, claim thatSymonds knew nothing about the murder, but that he afterwards obtainedthe papers from the man who really committed the murder, and that theidea of coming over to England and personating Tunstall then for thefirst time occurred to him. So I think you would find it extremelydifficult to get a verdict out in California merely on the evidence ofthese two gentlemen, and of my own that he was possessed of a letter Iwrote to Tunstall. But in any case, if you decide to have him arrestedon the charge of murder, you will have to go back to California to setthe law in motion there, to get the State authorities to appl
y to thesupreme authorities of the United States to make an application to ourgovernment for his arrest and extradition. You must do all this beforehe has any idea that you have returned, or at any rate before he knowsthat you have any idea of his crime; otherwise he will, of course, fly,and we shall have no means of stopping him, and he might be in Fijibefore the application for his arrest was received here."
Hugh and his companions looked helplessly at each other. This was analtogether unexpected blow. They had imagined they had but to givetheir evidence to ensure the arrest, trial, and execution of WilliamTunstall's murderer.
The doctor's fingers twitched, and the look that Sim Howlett knew sowell came into his eyes. He was about to spring to his feet when Simtouched him.
"Wait, doctor," he said. "We will talk about that afterwards."
"Then what do you advise, Mr. Randolph?" Hugh asked after a long pause.
"I should say that for the present we should content ourselveswith arresting him on the charge of impersonation, and of obtainingpossession of your uncle's estate by fraud. I think the proof we nowhave, in the evidence of these two gentlemen, and in this copy of thefinding of the coroner's jury, will be quite sufficient to ensure hisconviction, in which case he will get, I should say, seven years' penalservitude--perhaps fourteen--for although he will not be charged withthat offence, the conviction that he murdered your uncle in order toobtain possession of the estate cannot but be very strong in the mindof the judge. Yes, I should think he would give him fourteen yearsat least. We may, of course, want some other evidence that can beobtained from Sacramento, such as an official copy of the record of theproceedings at the coroner's inquest; but that would be a matter forcounsel to decide. My own opinion is, that the evidence of these twogentlemen that the William Tunstall who corresponded with your father,received my letter informing him of the will, and left the mining campon his way to England, and was murdered on his way to Sacramento, wasthe real William Tunstall, will be quite sufficient.
"It is a very lucky thing for you, by the way, Hugh, that there wereprovisions in your father's will, that if William Tunstall died withoutissue his half of the property came back to you, for that clause haseffectually prevented him from selling his estate, which he would havedone long ago had it been possible to do so. To my knowledge he hastried over and over again, and that clause has always prevented it.He has raised a little money on his life interest, but that will ofcourse have no claim on the estate now. Now, what do you say? It isfor you to decide. In the one case you will have an enormous amount oftrouble, and you may finally fail in getting an American jury to findthis man guilty of the murder; and in any case, if they do find him so,they will not execute him for a murder committed so long ago, and itis probable that he will get off with imprisonment for life, and maybe acquitted altogether. On the other hand, if you have him arrestedat once here, on the charge of impersonation and fraud, he is morallycertain of getting a sentence which, at his age, will be pretty nearlyequivalent to imprisonment for life."
"I certainly think that is the best plan," Hugh agreed. "Don't youthink so?" he asked, turning to the others.
"I think so," Sim Howlett said at once; and even the doctor, thoughless readily, agreed.
Since his last illness he had changed a good deal. He had no longerfits of abstraction, and was brighter and more cheerful than SimHowlett had ever seen him before. The loss of blood and the low feverthat had brought him to death's door had apparently relieved his brainof a load that had for years oppressed it.
"Let it be so," he said reluctantly. "Had we met out in the West itwould have been different; but as it is, perhaps it is best."
Late that evening the party proceeded to Carlisle, and early thenext morning Mr. Randolph went with the others to one of the countymagistrates, and, after laying all the facts before him, obtained awarrant for the arrest of John Symonds alias William Tunstall.
"I must congratulate you, Mr. Tunstall," the magistrate said to Hughafter he had signed the warrant, "upon your discovery. This scoundrelhas been a disgrace to your name. He has been for years a consorterwith betting men and blacklegs, and stands in the worst odour. Itis said that he has mortgaged his life interest in the estates andcompletely ruined himself."
Mr. Randolph nodded. "Yes, I believe he is pretty well at the end ofhis tether, and at any moment he might be turned out of Byrneside."
"Well, there is an end to all that," the magistrate said, "and themen who have proved themselves even sharper rogues than he is, willbe disappointed. I am sorry for the person who has passed as youraunt, for I know that she is spoken well of by the people in theneighbourhood, and I fancy she has had a very hard time of it with him;but of course she must have been his accomplice in this impersonationof your uncle."
"I am sorry for her, very sorry," Hugh said. "She was always most kindto me, and I have reason to believe that she did all in her power toprotect me from him. You see at my death he would have inherited thewhole property, and we now know that he was not a man to stick atanything. I am sure that she acted in fear of him."
"I have private reasons for believing so too," Mr. Randolph said; "for,unless I am greatly mistaken, she has deposited a document that, incase of her death, would have exposed the whole plot, in the hands ofsome legal friends of mine. However, we will not occupy your time anylonger, but will start at once with a couple of constables to executethis warrant."
Returning to Carlisle Mr. Randolph secured the services of twoconstables, and hiring vehicles they started at once for Byrneside.On arriving there Mr. Randolph said to the servant, "Announce me toMr. Tunstall. Do not say that I am not alone." Following him closelythey went across the hall, and as he opened the door and announced Mr.Randolph the others entered. The man was standing on the hearth-rug.The woman looked flushed and excited. They were evidently in themidst of a quarrel. Symonds looked up in angry surprise when the partyentered.
"Do your duty," Mr. Randolph said to one of the constables.
"_John Symonds, I arrest you under a warrant on the charge ofimpersonation and fraud._"
A deep Mexican oath burst from the lips of the man, then he stood quietagain.
"Who dares bring such a charge against me?" he asked.
"I do," Hugh said, stepping forward; "and these are my witnesses, menwho knew you at Cedar Gulch, and who identified the body of my murdereduncle."
"Traitress!" Symonds exclaimed in Mexican, and in an instant his armwas stretched out and there was a report of a pistol. "And she sent youout!" he exclaimed, turning to Hugh, but as he was in the act of againraising his arm there was the report of another pistol, and he fellshot through the brain.
The others stood stupefied at the sudden catastrophe, but the doctorsaid quietly, "I saw his hand go behind him, and knew he was up tomischief. I ought not to have waited, it is always a mistake to wait inthese cases."
Hugh sprang forward towards the woman who had been kind to him, but shehad fallen back in her chair. The gambler's bullet had done its work;it had struck her on the temple, and death had been instantaneous.
The excitement in the county when the news spread of what had takenplace at Byrneside was great indeed, and the revelations made beforethe coroner's jury greatly added to it. They returned a verdict that"Lola Symonds had been wilfully murdered by John Symonds, and thatthe latter had come by his death at the hands of Frank Hunter, whohad justifiably shot at and killed him while opposing by armed meansthe officers of the law, and that no blame attaches to the said FrankHunter."
When all was over, Hugh was warmly congratulated by the gentlemen whohad come in to be present at the inquest, upon his recovery of thewhole of his father's estate, and upon his escape from the danger hehad certainly run at the hands of the murderer of his uncle. He wasmuch affected by the death of the woman he still thought of as hisaunt, and the document that she deposited at the lawyers' in Londonshowed how completely she had acted under fear of her husband, and thatshe had knowingly risked her life to save his.
&nb
sp; The doctor and Sim Howlett remained for a fortnight with him atByrneside. He had urged upon them to make it their home for a while andto settle near him; but at the end of that time the doctor said to himone evening: "Sim and I have talked matters over, Hugh, and we havemade up our minds. I have heard from him that we are each the ownersof 25,000 dollars. I should not have taken it had I known it at thetime, but I should not like to hurt the don's feelings by sending itback now, and perhaps it will do more good in my hands than in his.So Sim and I are going back to California. We shall buy a place nearthe spot where I lived many years ago--Sim tells me he has told youthe story--and there we shall finish our days. When we die the moneywill go to charities. That is our plan, lad. We shall find plenty tohelp, and what with that and a little gardening our time will be welloccupied, and Sim and I will have plenty in the past to look back uponand talk about."
And so a week later they sailed. Hugh went with them to Liverpooland saw them off, and then travelled for a time on the Continent, forByrneside was repugnant to him after the tragedy that had been enactedthere.
On his return he went down to Norfolk and stayed for some time withLuscombe, and the visit was so pleasant that it was repeated wheneverhe happened to be in England.
Three years later he crossed the Atlantic again. He traversed theStates more easily now, for the railway across was almost completed.After spending a month in California with the doctor and Sim Howlett,whom he found well and happy, he visited Don Ramon at El Paso. Therehad been changes here, for both Don Carlos and his two sisters weremarried, and all insisted upon his being their guest for a time.
His first visit after his return to England was again to Norfolk. Itwas a short but important one, and on its termination he went back toByrneside to give orders for many changes and alterations that were tobe made with all speed in view of the coming of a new mistress. It hadfor some time past been apparent to Luscombe that the remark he hadlaughingly made years before on the banks of the Canadian was likely tobear fruit, and that his sister Phillis constituted no small portionof the attraction that brought Hugh down to Norfolk. Indeed, beforeleaving for the States Hugh had chatted the matter over with him.
"Of course, you have seen, Luscombe, how it has been. I shall bethree-and-twenty by the time I get back, which is quite young enoughfor a man to talk about marriage. As soon as I do I shall ask Phillis."
"Just as well to wait, Hugh. It seems to me that you and Phillis prettywell understand each other; but I don't see any use in engagementstill one can fix a date for the marriage, and as you have made up yourmind to go on this trip, it will save you both a lot of trouble in theway of writing to leave it alone until you come back. It is a horridnuisance to keep on writing letters when you are travelling. Besides,you know, the governor has strong ideas against early marriages, andwill think you quite young enough then, and so I should say leave it asit stands."
And so Hugh had left it; but it is doubtful whether he had left Phillisquite in ignorance of what would be said on his return. At any rate notime was required by her before giving an answer to the question whenit was put, and two months later the marriage took place. Many as werethe presents that the bride received, they were thrown completely intothe shade by that which arrived as a joint gift from Don Ramon andhis family a few days before the wedding, being sent by their orderfrom Tiffany's, the great jeweller of New York. It consisted of a caseof jewellery of extraordinary value and magnificence and was, as Mr.Luscombe, senior, remarked, suitable rather for a princess of royalblood than for the wife of a Cumberland squire.
The return of Mr. and Mrs. Tunstall after the termination of theirhoneymoon to Byrneside was hailed with great rejoicing by the tenantry,who were happy to know that the old state of things had at lastreturned, and that a resident landlord with an English wife would infuture be established in the family mansion.
THE END.
Typography by J. S. Cushing & Co., Boston.
Presswork by Berwick & Smith, Boston.