wind thet blows. Wenever I waked up in the night it kim a-stealin' along
past the ledge o' rock, an' makin' me shiver, I tell yuh. He was a orful
hard-lookin' ole man, mistah."

"But perhaps not quite so hard as he seemed, Jim. Was that name Griffin,
Jim?" asked Max.

"Yep," piped the boy, shivering; "an heah's them two bag o' mussels, jest
whar yuh left 'em."

"All right, Jim. I didn't expect they'd be stolen. Now listen to what I say,
Jim."

"Yas, suh."

"When you go back to your dad tell him I said he needn't be afraid to show
himself in Carson, or any other town around these diggings; because the
tramp who robbed old Griffin's place was caught, and all the stuff found on
him!"

"That's right," interrupted Bandy-legs, anxious to have a part in the
developments; "and I saw the Chief of Police bring him into town, too. He
was sure a tough-looking case. Your dad looks like a gentleman beside that
hobo thief."

"Old Griffin is a just man," Max went on. "I'm sure he's felt sorry for
treating your father as roughly as he did, without having any evidence
against him. And if you two showed up at his place to-day chances are he'd
take you both in and give you jobs."