ted on not giving this in any hurry, and as my coming
home has brought me a mass of things to consider, I have not been prompt
about it."

Fenneben put a small package into Burleigh's hands.

"Examine it here, if you care to. You can fasten the door when you
leave. Goodby!" and he was gone.

Victor sat down and opened the package. Inside was a quaint little
silver pitcher, much ornamented, with the initial B embossed on the
smooth side.

"The lost pitcher--stolen the day my mother died--and I was warned never
to try to find who stole it." He turned to the light of the west window.

"It is the very thing I found in the cave that night. The man who took
it may have been over there." He glanced out of the window and saw a
thin twist of blue smoke rising above the ledges across the river.

"Who can have had it all this time, and why return it now?" he
questioned. As he turned the pitcher in his hands a paper fell out.

"The message inside!" He spread out the paper and read "the message
inside."

Well for him that Dr. Fenneben had left him alone. The shining face and
eyes aglow changed suddenly to a white, hard countenance as he read this
message inside. It ran:

"Victor Burleigh. First, don't ever try to follow me. The day you do
I'll send you where I sent your father. No Burleigh can stay near me and
live. Now be wise.

"Second. You saved the baby I left in the old dugout. Before God I never
meant to kill it then. The thought of it has cursed my soul night and
day till I found out you had saved him.

"Third. The girl you want to marry--go and marry. Do anything, good or
bad, to destroy Burgess.

"Fourth. The money Burgess had is yours, only because I'm giving it to
you. It belongs to Bug Buler. He couldn't talk plain when you saved him.
He's not Bug Buler; he's Bug Burleigh, son of Victor Burleigh, heir to
V. B.'s money in the law. I've got all the proofs. You see why you can
have that money. Nobody will ever know but me. Don't hunt for me and
I'll never tell. TOM GRESH."

The paper fell from Victor Burleigh's hands. The world, that ten minutes
ago was a rose-hued sunset land, was a dreary midnight waste now. The
one barrier between himself and Elinor had fallen only to rise up again.

Then came Satan into the game. "Nobody knew this but Gresh! Who had
saved Bug's life? Who had cared for him and would always care for him?
Why should Bug, little, loving Bug, come now to spoil his hopes? If Bug
knew he wo