Thus accoutred he sallied forth, first to re-
move all traces of his hated existence that
might be left in his desk at school. If the
master were there he would say Rupert had
sent him ; if he was n't, he would climb in at
the window. The sun was already sinking
when he reached the clearing and found a
cavalcade of armed men around the building.
Johnny's first conviction was that the mas-
ter had killed Uncle Ben or Masters, and
that the men, taking advantage of the ab-
sence of his — Johnny's — big brother, were
about to summarily execute him. Observ-
ing no struggle from within, his second be-
lief was that the master had been suddenly
elected Governor of California and was
about to start with a state escort from the
school-house, and that he, Johnny, was in
time to see the procession. But when the
master appeared with McKinstry, followed
by part of the crowd afoot, this quick-witted



272 CRE8BT.
child of the frontier, from his secure outlook
in the " brush," gathered enough from their
fragmentary speech to guess the serious pur-
port of their errand, and thrill with anticipa-
tion and slightly creepy excitement.
