d region of Southern Utah, where you say there dwells the last
remnant of the murderous and terrible Danites, you--you--you----"

"What have I done?" sobbed Frank.

"Why, you've--you've said----"

"What?"

"I don't remember now; but I'd give seventeen million dollars if Asher
Merriwell, your uncle, was living and had to travel around with you!"

"Now my heart is broken!" came mournfully from behind that handkerchief.

That was more than Scotch could stand. He edged nearer Frank, who fell
face downward on the table, still laughing, but pretending to quiver
with sobs.

"There, there, there!" fluttered the little man, patting the boy on the
shoulder. "Don't feel so bad about it."

"I--I can't help it."

"Oh, I didn't mean anything--really I didn't. I'll take it back,
and----"

"Your cruel words have pierced my tender heart as the spear of the
fisherman pierceth the unwary flounder."

"I was too hasty--altogether too hasty."

"That does not heal the bleeding wound."

"Oh, well, say--I'll do most anything to----"

"Will you permit me to go on this expedition?"

"No, never!" cried the little man. "There is a limit, and that is too
much."

"But you have not heard the story of this Walter Clyde, to whom I owe my
very life," said Frank, pretending to dry his eyes with the
handkerchief.

"You owe what?" shouted the professor, astonished. "How do you owe him
so much?"

"Well, sir," spoke the boy, "it was like this: I had fallen into the
hands of a band of murderous ruffians, and----"

"When did this occur?"

"At about half past six. Please do not interrupt me again. These
ruffians, after relieving me of my valuables and wearing apparel, so
that I was clad in nothing but a loose-fitting suit of air, proceeded,
with fiendish design, to tie me to the railroad track."

"Terrible!" gasped Scotch, his face pale and horrified. "But where did
this take place?"

"Directly on the line of the railroad. Will you be good enough not to
interrupt! I was helpless in their power, and I could do nothing to save
myself. I begged them to spare me, but they laughed at my entreaties."

"The wretches!" roared the little professor. "Ah! Er! Excuse me for
breaking in."

"Having tied me firmly across the polished rails," continued Frank,
growing dramatic in his method of relating the yarn, "they told me the
express would be along in fifteen minutes, and then they left me to my
fate."

"The dastardly scoun---- Beg pardon!