onfined to any race; and on the borderland of Texas
may be encountered brigandage as rife and ruthless as among the
mountains of the Sierra Morena, or the defiles of the Appenines.

That the Texan bandit has succeeded in arranging everything to his
satisfaction may be learnt from his hilarious demeanour, with the speech
now addressed to his associates:--

"Boys!" he says, calling them around after they have finished eating,
and are ready to ride on, "We've got a big thing before us--one that'll
beat horse-ropin' all to shucks. Most o' ye, I reckin, know what I
mean; 'ceptin', perhaps, our friends here, who've just joined us."

The speaker looks towards Phil Quantrell _alias_ Dick Darke, and
another, named Walsh, whom he knows to be Joe Harkness, ex-jailer.

After glancing from one to the other, he continues--

"I'll take charge o' tellin' _them_ in good time; an', I think, can
answer for their standin' by us in the bizness. Thar's fifty thousand
dollars, clar cash, at the bottom of it; besides sundries in the trinket
line. The question then is, whether we'd best wait till this nice
assortment of property gets conveyed to the place intended for its
destination, or make a try to pick it up on the way. What say ye,
fellers? Let every man speak his opinion; then I'll give mine."

"You're sure o' whar they're goin', capting?" asks one of his following.
"You know the place?"

"Better'n I know the spot we're now camped on. Ye needn't let that
trouble ye. An' most all o' ye know it yourselves. As good luck has
it, 'taint over twenty mile from our old stampin' groun' o' last year.
Thar, if we let em' alone, everythin' air sure to be lodged 'ithin
less'n a month from now. Thar, we'll find the specie, trinkets, an'
other fixins not forgetting the petticoats--sure as eggs is eggs. To
some o' ye it may appear only a question o' time and patience. I'm
sorry to tell ye it may turn out somethin' more."

"Why d'ye say that, capting? What's the use o' waitin' till they get
there?"

CHAPTER FORTY ONE.

A REPENTANT SINNER.

Nearly three weeks after Borlasse and his brigands crossed the Sabine, a
second party is seen travelling towards the same river through the
forests of Louisiana, with faces set for the same fording-place.

In number they are but a third of that composing the band of Borlasse;
as there are only four of them. Three are on horseback, the fourth
bestriding a mule.

The three horsemen are whi