"When I woke up at Wingdam, after Jack went away, who should I find, Gabe, but Lawyer Maxwell standin' thar, and askin' me a heap o' questions. I supposed you'd been makin' a fool o' yourself agin, Gabe, and afore I let on thet I knowed a word, I jist made him tell me everythin' about you, Gabe, and it was orful! and you bein' arrested fur murder, ez wouldn't harm a fly, let alone that Mexican ez I never liked, Gabe, and all this comes of tendin' his legs instead o' lookin' arter me. And all them questions waz about July, and whether she wasn't your enemy, and if they ever waz a woman, Gabe, ez waz sweet on you, you know it was July! And all thet kind o' foolishness! And then when he couldn't get ennythin' out o' me agin July, he allowed to Pete that he must take me right to you, fur he said ther was talk o' the Vigilantes gettin' hold o' ye afore the trial, and he was goin' to get an order to take you outer the county, and he reckoned they wouldn't dare to tech ye if I waz with ye, Gabe--and I'd like to see 'em try it! and he allowed to Pete that he must take me right to you! And Pete--and thar ain't a whiter nigger livin' than that ole man--said he would--reckonin' you know to find Jack, as he allowed to me they'd hev to kill afore they got you--and he came down yer with me. And when we got yer--you was off--and the sheriff gone--and the Vigilantes--what with bein' killed, the biggest o' them, by the earthquake--what was orful, Gabe, but we bein' on the road didn't get to feel!--jest scared outer their butes! And then a Chinyman gins us your note"---- "My note?" interrupted Gabriel, "I didn't send ye any note." "Then _his_ note," said Olly, impatiently, pointing to Hamlin, "sayin' 'You'll find your friends on Conroy's Hill!'--don't you see, Gabe?" continued Olly, stamping her foot in fury at her brother's slowness of comprehension, "and so we came and heard Jack singin', and a mighty foolish thing it was to do, and yer we are!" "But he didn't send any note, Olly," persisted Gabriel. "Well, you awful old Gabe, what difference does it make _who_ sent it?" continued the practical Olly; "here we are, along o' thet note, and," she added, feeling in her pocket, "there's the note!" She handed Gabriel a small slip of paper with the pencilled words, "You'll find your friends waiting for you to-night on Conroy's Hill."