ridiculous, and he hated me more than if I 'd tried to kill him. He
started down to the city with his dust, and somebody robbed him, and
half killed him into the bargain. He accused me of being the robber
and I had no witnesses to prove an alibi. They had a trial and
convicted me of the crime, as Johnson swore that he recognized me. I
knew that it was simply a scheme of his to get even with me, and I
didn't believe that he had been robbed at all. But I was sentenced to
prison for two years and I had to go.

"When I got out my teeth were on edge for revenge on Johnson, the
lawyers, the judge, the jury, and the whole law-making system that had
made me, an innocent man, spend those two years fuming in a cell. I
was ready to fight the whole organization of society and the whole
system of government, from President to jailer. I swore the biggest,
hardest kind of an oath that I would give them a reason for being so
anxious to put people in prison. Only, I didn't propose that they
should ever send me there again.

"Well, for two years Grizzly Dick was the terror of that county and all
the adjoining ones. To take him, alive or dead, was the ambition of
half the sheriffs in California. After my first few escapades I had
plenty of helpers. Men as desperate and as dare-devil as I gathered
around me and we carried things with a high hand. I cared nothing for
the profits of being an outlaw. What I wanted was revenge on society,
and the excitement and risk of the game. The greater part of whatever
we took went to my followers, and I never kept more than was necessary
for my immediate needs.

"We had many a desperate fight with sheriffs and their posses, many a
wild ride over the hills and through the pine woods on dark nights, and