"Mr. Gilbert," interrupted George. "You surely haven't been----"
"No; I haven't. I kept a still tongue in my head until I found that everybody in the settlement knew as much as I did, and that was what made the neighbors mad at me and you, too. They say we ought to have told them about Uncle John, so that they could have run him out of the country. If evidence was wanting to prove the truth of the story you told Mr. Lowry, Joe and myself, regarding your experience among the Contra-Guerrillas," continued Mr. Gilbert, "that evidence has been produced. The regiment was almost cut to pieces at Queretaro, and out of the seven hundred men who went into the last fight there, scarcely more than one-quarter of them came out to tell about it. As bad luck would have it, Fletcher and most of his gang escaped, and they have come back to the Rio and gone into their old business of stealing cattle. Fletcher has made several demands upon your uncle for hush-money, threatening, in case those demands were not complied with, to tell the settlers that he was hired to make an end of you, and that was the way you came to lose those herds. But there was one in the gang who couldn't stand that, and his name was Springer. He couldn't forget that you had helped him to save his life, and so he came over among the settlers and told everything about Uncle John and his plans. Luckily this happened after your uncle had started for St. Louis. If it had happened before, it is probable that you wouldn't have had any guardian now. They threatened vengeance against Ned, and that was the reason I ran off with him. By the way, do you know what Uncle John's business was in St. Louis? Neither do I, but it's my opinion that he was going there to deposit the money he received for the last cattle he sold."
George was indeed astonished by this revelation. He forgot that Uncle John had twice put his life in jeopardy, and thought only of the danger that threatened him when he returned to the rancho. "He mustn't go back there," said the boy; "but how are we going to prevent it?"
"I know of but one way, and that is to stay here and meet him when he comes," replied Mr. Gilbert. "You don't seem to find your friend, do you? Let's go and get something to eat, and then we'll take another look for him."