I have said that the passengers were astonished at discovering that the notorious road agent was their fellow-traveller. There were two, however, who were not wholly surprised—the miner who had related his cousin’s story and the farmer who had had a sharp colloquy with the black-eyed man.

For a minute no one moved or spoke.

“Come,” said Dike impatiently; “I have no time to waste. Give me your money.”

“Do you want mine?” asked Grant, who was entirely willing to give up the small amount of gold coin he had with him, if he could save the dust in his valise.

“No; I don’t care for the trifle you have, nor the other boy’s money, but those miners over there must give up their treasure, and my agricultural friends also.”

294“If you want my money, come and get it!” growled the miner already referred to.

“I say the same,” added the farmer.

“I will stand no nonsense,” said Stephen Dike.

“It’s hard luck,” grumbled the miner, “to give up all my hard earnings.”

“Give up your money, and grumble afterward,” rejoined Dike.

The miner thrust his hand into his pocket, and then, in an excited voice, exclaimed suddenly, as he peered out of the coach, “Ha, friends! there is help approaching. See!” And he pointed, with outstretched finger, beyond Stephen Dike.

The road agent, taken by surprise, turned quickly. The step was fatal to him. The miner, who had pulled a revolver from his pocket, fired without an instant’s delay, and Stephen Dike fell backward, instantly killed. The miner’s bullet had penetrated his temple. So unexpected was the assault that the road agent had not even time to discharge his own pistols. They fell upon the ground from his 295nerveless hands, and one of them accidentally went off, but did no harm.

The Road Agent meets his Match.

“My cousin is avenged!” exclaimed the miner grimly.

“Give me your hand, sir!” said the farmer. “You have saved us all, and rid the State of California of the most dangerous outlaw within its limits.”

“It seems hard to rejoice in the death of a fellow-being,” observed the teacher, “but no one can grieve over the taking off of such a man. Gentlemen, let us remove the body to some place less public.”

The passengers got out, and were joined by the driver.

“There is a reward of five thousand dollars offered by the authorities for the capture of Stephen Dike, dead or alive,” he said. “What gentleman killed him?”

“I did,” answered the miner; “but I want no reward. I should look upon it as blood money. What I did, I did in defence of my fellow-passengers and myself.”

Stephen Dike lay upon the ground, his 296features still wearing the cynical smile habitual to him. Death had come upon him so suddenly that there had not been time even to change the expression of his face.

“I suppose this man has committed many robberies?” said the teacher to the stage-driver.

“No one knows how many, but he has robbed my stage four times.”

“How did it happen that you did not recognize him when he booked as a passenger?”

“He has always worn a mask when I saw him before. This time he became bolder, and presented himself without disguise. I remember being struck by his appearance, and wondering whether I had not met him before, but it did not occur to me that it was the famous road agent, Stephen Dike.”

The passengers took the lifeless body, and drew it to one side of the road.

“Ought we not to bury it?” asked the teacher.

“I can’t bear to put beneath the sod a man who, but fifteen minutes since, was as full of life as we are. Let us leave that office to 297some one else. We can affix to the tree, beneath which he lies, a paper giving his name.”

This proposal was approved. One of the passengers produced a sheet of paper and a travelling inkstand, and this placard was affixed to the trunk of the tree:
This man is
STEPHEN DIKE,
THE ROAD AGENT.
Killed while attempting to rob the Sacramento coach.

“We ought, perhaps, to examine his pockets, and see if we can find anything to throw light on his career.”

This was the suggestion of one of the passengers.

“No,” said the miner; “leave that to the persons who may find him. If he has money about him, leave it to others. I have been the instrument of Heaven’s retribution. Should I take anything of value from him, I would be degraded to his own level.”
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