Removing the fire-board from before the grate, he discovered pieces of letters, post-bills, strings, sealing-wax, and paper partly burned. . 28 "Jake, I'm tired and sleepy; I believe I will get up on top, under the canvas, and take a nap." The astonishment of the robber was equalled only by his chagrin. "The key is gone," replied Mike, the porter. 30 32 34 Unaccustomed to so much walking, he decided to buy a horse. 37 39 and in a few seconds came upon the half-drowned man. 41 "No yer don't, no yer don't, Meester Heenton. Yer puts yer fut een eet dis time." 44 "Did you know that he was under arrest for robbing the mails?" asked the officer. . The negro gradually recalled the circumstances. The dealer had no suspicion whatever of the identity of the proposed customer. The Lonely Ride. 47 49 After a long skirmish, the old lady admitted that for several months her daughter had held for Ben two one hundred dollar bills. .. 58 The late inail-rider did not wait for a second warning, but, mounting a fleet steed, plunged into the forest. 59 "No mail-robber ever gets away from me. Now, my boy, you have been robbing the mails." 61 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 as they cantered along. 62 13 William, in turn, conducted the party to a mausoleum of stolen treas ures. 64 "Here is but one," remarked the agent. "I must have the other also." 66 Hurrying through the meal, he repaired to his own room, to study an apparently insignificant scrap of manuscript. 68 "O, what an infamous villain you are! Caught at last in your own trap!" 71 Smythe took advantage of the heavy slumbers of his companion to steal from his pocket the manipulated receipt. The Home of the Dunstons. "Just so,” replied the agent; "but in our business we never leave any outlets open, and I will go through it as a matter of form." At the same instant a woman stepped out upon the veranda, with a milkpail in each hand. "Great God! that I should live to come to this." She stepped quickly toward an open window, and placing her hands on the sill, gave a convulsive spring. 75 81 85 87 He now staggered into the room, and, appalled at a scene he could not comprehend, fell heavily to the floor. 90 91 "Stop! We are officers of the United States government. We come hither to perform a painful but imperative duty." 94 "Old girl, we have lived together forty years, and I believe you." The poor, broken-hearted wife threw herself at the feet of her husband, and ejaculated piteously, "John, O John, forgive me!" With a long, dirk-shaped needle she was trying to pierce her heart.. 102 Rising from her seat, she snatched the hat from her head, and tore it into shreds. The husband, so tender, and true, and faithful, that he would willingly have bared his own heart to the shaft to spare that of the wife, stood at her side to support her trembling form. The broken-hearted wife was left, day after day, to the solitary companionship of sad thoughts and gloomy forebodings. Mounting the ox-wagon with half a dozen bright-faced children, they rode for an hour through the woods. "Quarrel, stranger! Why, I whipped that woman every day, reg'lar." The Desperado. 105 The clerk, maddened with liquor and frenzied with passion, crept stealthily on to the piazza, armed with a double-barreled gun. She had seen the clerk open letters, and had often heard the contents discussed. 15 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. "Look again," urged the lynx-eyed messenger. "You are a dealer in counterfeit money." "I will tell you where you got it. You stole it from a letter." 130 134 139 141 The passengers were compelled to pry out the wheels with fence-rails. The raindrops, driven by a strong north-easterly wind, penetrated like hail. 145 146 153 155 Mrs. Nathan, with arms folded behind her back, was slowly pacing the room. Her small black eye seemed to emit venom like the eye of an enraged rat- "Thank God that you still live," whispered the dreaded visitant. Paul Atherton. The officer mailed a number of letters that to an ordinary thief would But the gentleman declined to lend the slightest assistance. and eyes were buried under the ample brim of a slouched hat. The door was then cautiously opened, and the figure disappeared.. "By the way, Mr. S., how are you getting on with that mail contractor? Don't you fellows from Washington drive rather slow coaches?" The youth lowered something by a string, closed the sash, and shortly after emerged from the front door. . . The asthmatic old gentleman of the previous night, now transformed into a somewhat dilapidated inebriate, followed closely. The new arrival staggered into the billiard-parlor, and tumbled into a seat in close proximity to the table upon which Paul was playing.. 176 Not to be outdone, the ragamuffin ordered a “bot'l best wine." "You are a deceiver "I am guilty, O God, how guilty! Let me die here.” In suddenness and fury the storm surpassed the tropical cyclone. Around, around, around he walked, through the hours that seemed to lengthen into ages. 201 |