Handing the letter to the Vigilantes, he quietly replaced the bandages upon his unhealed fingers. His manner, though grave and solemn, was composed and dignified. Something in his conduct showed that he truly loved his mother. Much sympathy for him was evinced in the manner and attention of those who conducted him to the place of execution, in an unfinished building at no great distance from his place of confinement. The first objects which met his gaze, as he stood beneath the fatal beam, were the bodies of Plummer and Stinson, the one laid out upon the floor for burial, the other upon a work-bench. He gazed upon their ghastly features unshrinkingly, and in clear tones asked leave to pray, which was readily granted. Kneeling down, amid the profound silence of a crowd of spectators, his lips moved rapidly, and his face wore a pleading expression, but his utterance was inaudible. Rising to his feet, while seemingly still engaged in prayer, he cast an expressive glance at the audience, and then surveyed the provisions made for his execution. A rope with the fatal noose dangled from the cross-beam, and beneath it stood a barrel, around which was a cord, whose ends, stretching across the floor, left no doubt as to the office it was extemporized to perform. “How long,” he inquired, “will it take me to die? I have never seen a man hanged.” “It will be very short, John,—very short. You will not suffer much pain,” was the reply of a Vigilante. The poor wretch mounted the barrel, and stood perfectly unmoved while the rope was adjusted to his neck. The men laid hold of the rope which encircled the barrel. Everything being prepared, at the words, “All ready,” the barrel was jerked from beneath him, and the stalwart form of the robber, after several powerful struggles, hung calm and still. Dutch John had followed his leader to the other shore. CHAPTER XXXVIII VIRGINIA CITY EXECUTIONS