ce," said Hannohan; "I and my family may
as well go into the poorhouse or starve, if you can't influence that Mr.
Lofin, who is a Catholic, to let me have my eight horses and carts, for
I owe him not one single cent."

"He may call himself a Catholic, Mike," said Father Ugo; "but he cannot
be a Catholic, or even a believer in God's justice, if he is guilty of
all those villanies which are laid to his charge. It would be no use
for me to speak to such an abandoned scoundrel and robber as, by all
accounts, he is."

Poor Hannohan got the benefit of law, which resulted in his losing his
eight horses and carts: a warrant was issued for his capture, for
threatening the robbers of his property with chastisement. He was taken
in a few days, and lodged in prison, where he died in a fortnight of the
injuries inflicted on him by the drunken constables, who succeeded in
arresting him after a two days' chase through the woods. No doubt _the
good Catholic_, Mr. Lofin, rested quiet when he heard of the death of
this formidable opponent. And I suppose, by way of appeasing the public
indignation,--for I do not think he had any dread of the anger of
Heaven,--his name appeared, a few days after, at the head of a list of
subscriptions for the support of an orphanage in the city. And well he
might spend a little of his profits in _charitable_ objects, for he and
his partners had, by the late manoeuvre got up under Lofin's auspices,
saved not less than five thousand nine hundred dollars' worth of
property in horses, carts, harness, and shanties! We have heard of
robbers in Italy and Spain, who, after they rob and murder the rich, are
very _liberal_ to the poor, although, like your railroad-contract robber
the poor Italian brigand has not the chance of having his name published
in the newspapers, or read out from the pulpit, as a good, charitable,
and humane gentleman. Of the two charities, I think that of the obscure
brigand is the most worthy and laudable.

One Sunday evening, as Father Ugo was returning from service in the
country, where he officiated every two weeks, he came up with a large
and enraged crowd of people on both sides of the road on which he
travelled. On one side of the way about one hundred carts were placed in
a line, so as to form a rampart and protect some two hundred men, who,
with loaded muskets, crouched behind the carts as if watching for an
object to fire at. An occasional shot was fired from this rampart, and
t