Some of them were criminals, one or two had already the stain of blood
on their hands; but even the most timid, who at other times might have
shrunk from suggested assassination, saw in the speaker's words only the
fair removal of a natural enemy.
"All right, boys. I'm ready to wade in at once. Why ain't we on the road
now? We might have been but for foolin' our time away on that man Van
Loo."
"Van Loo!" repeated Hall eagerly,--"Van Loo! Was he here?"
"Yes," said Steptoe shortly, administering a kick under the table to
Hall, as he had no wish to revive the previous irritability of his
comrades. "He's gone, but," turning to the others, "you'd have had to
wait for Mr. Hall's arrival, anyhow. And now you've got your order you
can start. Go in two parties by different roads, and meet on the other
side of the hotel at Hymettus. I'll be there before you. Pick up some
shovels and drills as you go; remember you're honest miners, but don't
forget your shootin'-irons for all that. Now scatter."
It was well that they did, vacating the room more cheerfully and
sympathetically than they had entered it, or Hall's manifest disturbance
over Van Loo's visit would have been noticed. When the last man had
disappeared Hall turned quickly to Steptoe. "Well, what did he say?
Where has he gone?"
"Don't know," said Steptoe, with uneasy curtness. "He was running away
with a woman--well, Mrs.
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