AN IRATE FEMALE RELENTS.

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instance, during the brief absence of the officer, the heart of the rejected candidate for that endearing relationship warmed

"The late mail rider did not wait for a second warning, but, mounting a fleet steed, plunged into the forest."

toward the lost Benjamin, and she sent him word that an agent of the government was at his heels. The late "mail-rider" did not wait for a second warning, but, mounting a fleet steed, plunged into the forest. On coming up

an hour later, how lonesome the officer felt to

be deprived of the companionship of the one whom he had sought so long and so far! How he cursed the vain, misleading philosophy of the poet who sang;

"Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned,

Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned!"

Too late he discovered that the "process of law" came in at the wrong time and in the wrong place.

However, without wasting a moment in idle regrets, he hurried to Cane Creek, ten miles distant, and there procured the pilotage of the postmaster, who knew the forests thor

oughly. The two rode the entire night, changing horses three times. As they cantered along, discussing the robberies, the postmaster recalled a particular week when Ben was not on the route, yet, as shown by the papers, several losses occurred during the time. Hence he could not be the only thief. There must be another, and the question of paramount importance was to determine who. Could it be one of the other brothers? The family-tree had an unsavory reputation. Was it true that all the fruit was equally bad?

At nine o'clock in the morning, after making a circuit of many miles in luckless pursuit of the eldest brother, the equestrians debouched on the main highway, and sauntered leisurely along to meet the approaching rider, who proved to be the youngest of the ill-starred trio. Without uttering a word, the officer seized the bridle of the horse, and, having led it a short distance to one side, pulled out a pair of handcuffs and ordered the lad to dismount. The boy slid to the ground, half demented from fright.

"Do you know who I am?" inquired the special agent, coolly unlocking the shackles.

"No, sir," was the trembling response.

"Have you ever heard of a detective?" continued the officer, severely.

"Yes, sir, I reckon I have."

"Did you ever see one?"

"No-o-o, I reckon not."

"Then look at me," said the fierce stranger; "I am the great detective of America. No mail-robber ever gets away from me. Now, my boy, you have been robbing the mails. I know it; you know it; in a little while everybody will know it. What did you do with the packages?"

The boy was about to stammer forth a denial, when the officer broke in, "Come, hush, don't lie to me! You might deceive some people, but remember I am a detective. Don't you know a detective can see right through you? What, I say, did you do with the packages? Quick, don't lie again!"

A FRIGHTENED THIEF.

61

The terrified delinquent tried to fall back a little as if to gain a moment for reflection, but the officer, bending over him with an eye so fierce and searching that its boasted power seemed to do scant justice to the reality, continued, with overwhelming precipitancy, "Come, quick, there's not a minute to be

Now, my boy, you have been robbing the mails."

"Well," said the lad, cowering under that pair of terrible orbs, "I'll - I'll tell the truth. I burned the most of them." With him the fight was over, and resistance at an end. The agent immediately dropped the air of severity, and took the

opposite tack. "O, James," he resumed, "how sorry I am that you burned them! A good many of them contained papers which you could not use, but which are very valuable to the poor people who sent them. For their sake I hoped you would not destroy what could do you no good."

"Well," answered the lad, "they are not all burned, and I'll show you where they are hid."

Another rider was found to complete the trip, and with James in custody, the equestrians started for the place where the booty was secreted. On the way the detective coaxed, threatened, and pitied by turns, till the boy admitted that the three brothers, Benjamin, William, and himself,

were all engaged in the robberies. The rifled packages, hidden in hollow trees and under old stumps, were scattered along the road for the distance of thirty-five miles, the thief pointing out the places of concealment.

Having accomplished so much, they turned back to cap

THIRTY-SIX HOURS IN THE SADDLE.

63

When

ture William, who was approaching from the south. charged with the crime, he at first denied it stoutly; but James, having already divulged the guilty secret, advised his brother to follow the good example; and beset thus on both sides, the culprit held out but a few moments. Having eased his conscience by confession, William, in turn, conducted the party to a mausoleum of stolen treasures appropriated to his individual use, where he also resurrected a number of rifled packages.

As the mail was carried on horseback, the thieves had contrived to keep a hole on the inner side of each pouch, partially concealed by the folds, which was sewed up with a "whang of leather. The nip would not be noticed except on close examination, and even then, as it appeared to be securely closed, would hardly attract attention.

At dark the motley company reached Cane Creek, the special agent having been in the saddle for thirty-six consecutive hours. Leaving the prisoners in charge of a guard, and procuring a change of horses, he pressed on twenty-one miles further, to the house of an uncle of the boys, in quest of the eldest brother who had most of the stolen property. The fugitive, however, was not there or in the neighborhood, but had fled across the country toward the southwest, with a start of twenty-four hours. Seeing the futility of prolonging the chase, he set out to return to Cane Creek the same night, but, overpowered by fatigue, dropped asleep on the road, and fell from the horse. He did not attempt to proceed further, but making a bed under a stack of straw, slept till morning.

Benjamin succeeded in effecting his escape. The other two brothers were taken to Ironton before a United States commissioner, who bound them over for trial. They were promptly indicted, and, when arraigned, pleaded guilty. As neither could read or write, they were sentenced to a term of three years in the House of Refuge. At the end of eighteen months, William ran away; and six months later, James followed his example. At the latest accounts the three brothers