When Fuller came in he had the Notice to Leave—­folded up—­in one hand, and the newspaper in the other; and it gave me more than half a pang to see him.  His cheerfulness was all gone, and he looked old and pinched and ashy.  And then—­only think of the things he had to listen to!  Mamma, he heard his own unsuspecting friends describe him with epithets and characterizations drawn from the very dictionaries and phrase-books of Satan’s own authorized editions down below.  And more than that, he had to agree with the verdicts and applaud them.  His applause tasted bitter in his mouth, though; he could not disguise that from me; and it was observable that his appetite was gone; he only nibbled; he couldn’t eat.  Finally a man said: 

“It is quite likely that that relative is in the room and hearing what this town thinks of that unspeakable scoundrel.  I hope so.”

Ah, dear, it was pitiful the way Fuller winced, and glanced around scared!  He couldn’t endure any more, and got up and left.

During several days he gave out that he had bought a mine in Mexico, and wanted to sell out and go down there as soon as he could, and give the property his personal attention.  He played his cards well; said he would take $40,000—­a quarter in cash, the rest in safe notes; but that as he greatly needed money on account of his new purchase, he would diminish his terms for cash in full, He sold out for $30,000.  And then, what do you think he did?  He asked for greenbacks, and took them, saying the man in Mexico was a New-Englander, with a head full of crotchets, and preferred greenbacks to gold or drafts.  People thought it queer, since a draft on New York could produce greenbacks quite conveniently.  There was talk of this odd thing, but only for a day; that is as long as any topic lasts in Denver.

I was watching, all the time.  As soon as the sale was completed and the money paid—­which was on the 11th—­I began to stick to Fuller’s track without dropping it for a moment.  That night—­no, 12th, for it was a little past midnight—­I tracked him to his room, which was four doors from mine in the same hall; then I went back and put on my muddy day-laborer disguise, darkened my complexion, and sat down in my room in the gloom, with a gripsack handy, with a change in it, and my door ajar.  For I suspected that the bird would take wing now.  In half an hour an old woman passed by, carrying a grip:  I caught the familiar whiff, and followed with my grip, for it was Fuller.  He left the hotel by a side entrance, and at the corner he turned up an unfrequented street and walked three blocks in a light rain and a heavy darkness, and got into a two-horse hack, which of course was waiting for him by appointment.  I took a seat (uninvited) on the trunk platform behind, and we drove briskly off.  We drove ten miles, and the hack stopped at a way-station and was discharged.  Fuller got out and took a seat on a barrow under the