Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) Forty-one Thieves _A Tale of California_ ANGELO HALL Copyright, 1919 THE CORNHILL COMPANY BOSTON DEDICATED TO J. H. K. A PARTNER OF WILL CUMMINS AND A NEIGHBOR OF ROBERT PALMER CONTENTS I. Dead Men Tell No Tales II. The Graniteville Stage III. The Girl or the Gold? IV. A Council of War V. Old Man Palmer VI. Two of a Kind VII. An Old Sweetheart VIII. "Bed-bug" Brown, Detective IX. The Home-Coming of a Dead Man X. The Travels of John Keeler XI. The Snows of the Sierras XII. The Golden Summer Comes Again XIII. The End of the Trail XIV. Golden Opportunities XV. Three Graves by the Middle Yuba XVI. When Thieves Fall Out XVII. Brought to Justice XVIII. The End of J. C. P. Collins XIX. The Home-Coming of Another Dead Man XX. The Bridal Veil FORTY-ONE THIEVES CHAPTER I Dead Men Tell No Tales In the cemetery on the hill near the quiet village of Reedsville, Pennsylvania, you may find this inscription: WILLIAM F. CUMMINS son of Col. William & Martha Cummins who was killed by highwaymen near Nevada City, California September 1, 1879 aged 45 yrs. and 8 months Be ye therefore also ready For the Son of Man cometh At an hour when ye think not. It is a beautiful spot, on the road to Milroy. In former times a church stood in the middle of the grounds, and the stern old Presbyterian forefathers marched to meeting with muskets on their shoulders, for the country was infested with Indians. The swift stream at the foot of the hill, now supplying power for a grist-mill, was full of salmon that ran up through the Kishacoquillas from the blue Juniata. The savages begrudged the settlers these fish and the game that abounded in the rough mountains; but the settlers had come to cultivate the rich land extending for twelve miles between the mountain walls. The form of many a Californian now rests in that cemetery on the hill. A few years after the burial of the murdered Cummins, the body of Henry Francis was gathered to his fathers, and, near by, lie the bodies of four of his brothers,--all Californians. The staid Amish farmers and their subdued women, in outlandish, Puritanical garb, pass along the road unstirred by the romance and glamour buried in those graves. Dead men tell no tales! Else there were no need that pen of mine should snatch from oblivion this tale of California.