"I took them," he said. "I found Braxton Wyatt in the grove around the
house of Alvarez, and I seized him. I found these in the lining of his
waistcoat."
"You did not kill him?"
"Oh, no. He is not hurt."
"It is well. I did not wish any unnecessary violence, but we had a right
to seize these documents which mean so much to us and Bernardo Galvez. You
will leave them with me."
"Of course," said Henry. "And now that this task is finished, I'll go back
to prison with my comrades."
"It's unnecessary for you to join them there," said the merchant still
laughing in his pleasure. "I'll have them out to join you, and that
speedily, too. Go into the next room and sleep. You've earned the right to
it."
The five, reduced to four, were sitting in their prison the next afternoon
chafing more than ever. It seemed to every one of them that those walls,
already so narrow, were still contracting. They did not even like to look
out of the window. The contrast was too painful, and they did not wish to
increase their sorrow.
"Jim," said Shif'less Sol in plaintive tones to Long Jim Hart, "won't you
please come here, an' hold up my head?"
"Now, Sol Hyde," said Long Jim, "what do you want me to come thar an' hold
up your head fur? Are you too lazy to hold it up fur yourself?"
"No, Jim, I ain't too lazy to hold it up fur myself, I'm jest too weak.
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