I'll buy somethin' I want, an' that little Jack will want.' I'd go to
town an' see it all, an' think an' puzzle an' wonder--then I'd come
home with a few toys, maybe, an' bac'n an' flour an' coffee."

"With all our money we can't buy higher than our source, an' when we
go we leave even that behind," he added.

"The world," said the old man quaintly, "is full of folks who have
got a big pocket-book an' a bac'n pedigree."

"Do you know who this money belongs to?" he asked the outlaw.

"Every dollar of it," said Jack Bracken. "It come from railroads,
banks and express companies. I didn't feel squirmish about takin' it,
for all o' them are robbers. The only diff'r'nce betwix' them an' me
is that they rob a little every day, till they get their pile, an' I
take mine from 'em, all at onct."

He thought awhile, then he said: "But it must all go back to 'em,
Jack. Let them answer for their own sins. Leave it here until next
week--an' then we will come an' haul it fifty miles to the next town,
where you can express it to them without bein' known, or havin'
anybody kno' what's in the buckets till you're safe back here in this
town. I'll fix it an' the note you are to write. They'll not pester
you after they get their money. The crowd you've named never got hot
under a gold collar. A clean shave will change you so nobody will
suspect you, an' there's a good openin' in town for a blacksmith, an'
you can live with me in my cabin."

"But there's one thing I've kept back for the las'," said Jack, after
they had gone into the front part of the room and sat down on the
deer skins there.

"That sword there"--and he pointed to the wall where it hung.

The Bishop glanced up, and as he did so he felt a strange thrill of
recognition run through him--"It belongs to Cap'n Tom," said Jack
quietly.

The old man sprang up and took it reverently, fondly down.

"Jack--" he began.

"I was at Franklin," went on Jack proudly. "I charged with old Gen.
Travis over the breastworks near the Carter House. I saw Cap'n Tom
when he went under."

"Cap'n Tom," repeated the old man slowly.

"Cap'n Tom, yes--he saved my life once, you know. He cut me down when
they were about to hang me for a spy--you heard about it?"

The Bishop nodded.

"It was his Company that caught me an' they was glad of any excuse to
hang me. An' they mighty nigh done it, but Cap'n Tom came up in time
to cut me down an' he said he'd make it hot for any man that teched