r could be right," returned the innkeeper,
who had never been ill, and attributed his health to his distrust of
physicians. "Fresh air, wholesome food and a clear conscience--them's
to long life what the three R's are to 'rithmetic. Powerful sorry you
can't pass the night. I'd admire to talk over the political situation
with an intelligent man."

The side glance toward himself with which the Scotchman said this sent
Ephraim off into a mighty guffaw, in which presently they all joined;
and in the midst of the merriment a stable boy led up the horses, and
the Sobrante-bound riders loped away. Yet, just before they were out
of hearing, Aleck's stentorian voice sent after them the warning
advice:

"Keep a sharp lookout, by, and your hands on your guns. That spook's
hit the trail again! Watch out!"

Ninian laughed, and "Forty-niner" tried to do so, but the most he
could accomplish was a feeble cackle, which, his companion fancied,
betrayed his age as nothing heretofore had done. It was a nervous,
irritated laugh, and was matched by the altered voice in which its
owner presently remarked:

"If I can't stop this fool business any other way, I've a notion to
ride round the country and shoot right and left, everybody I see,
promiscuous. That's the sure and certain way to hit the spook, too."

"Heigho! This grows exciting! Spooks? Mysteries? Mail robberies! What
next?"

There was no answer from the sharpshooter, who had gotten his horse
into a steady trot and was putting the road behind him in a manner
that needed all Ninian's efforts to match. If Nimrod had been as
little used to the trail as his rider was to him the space between the
two animals would have widened irretrievably; but he was the better
bred of the two, and though he didn't waste his strength in a first
spurt, as Prince did, he fell into a steady, easy gait, that soon told
to his advantage.

It was one of the perfect moonlight nights which come in that
cloudless region, when one can easily "read fine print," if so
inclined, or see across country almost as well as in the day. The
swift motion, the exhilarating air, the sense of freedom from city
walls and cramped spaces, started the reporter into singing, and later
into the silence of wonder over the astonishing power of his own
voice.

"Hurrah! If that's my warble I never heard it before! It's a marvelous
atmosphere that makes a rag time tune sound like a nightingale's
music. If 'Forty-niner' would joi