bed into the seat beside him.

"You start having criminal ideas," she told him, "and you'll find out!
Now you go on about your business and I and the monkey wrench will look
after your morals!"

This tender exchange happened only an hour or so after the robbery and
there was plenty of excitement around. But Sam went soberly about his
work as telephone lineman. Rosie simply rode with him as a--well, it
wasn't as a bodyguard, but a sort of M.P. escort--Morals Police. Where
he worked on a line, he called the central office to report, and he
heard about the hunt for the bank robbers, and told Rosie.

* * * * *

It was good fortune that he'd been in Dunnsville when the robbery
happened, because his prompt repair of the phone wires had spoiled the
robbers' get-away plans. They hadn't gone ten miles from Dunnsville
before somebody fired a load of buckshot at them as their car roared by
Lemons' Store. They were past before they realized they'd been shot at.
But the buckshot had punctured the radiator, and two miles on, they were
stuck.

They pushed their car off the road behind some bushes and struck out on
foot, and the sheriff ran right past their car without seeing it. Then
rain began to fall and the bank robbers were wet and scared and
desperate. They knew there'd be roadblocks set up everywhere and they
had that bag of money--part bills, but a lot of it silver--and all of
Tidewater was up in arms.

Taking evasive action, they hastily stuffed their pockets with small
bills--there were no big ones--but dared not take too much lest the
pockets bulge. They hid the major part of their loot in a hollow tree.
They separated, going to nearby towns--while rain fell heavily and
covered their trails--and went to bed with chest colds. They felt
miserable. But the rain washed away the scent they had left and
bloodhounds couldn't do a thing.

None of this was known to Sam, of course. Rosie had taken charge of him
and she kept charge. She rode with him all the afternoon of the robbery.
When quitting time came, he took her home and prepared to retire from
the scene.

But she said grimly, "Oh, no, you don't! You're staying right here!
You're going to sleep in my brother's room, and my pa is going to put a
padlock on the door so you don't go roaming off to call up that
no-account other you and get in more trouble!"

"I might mess things up if I don't talk to him," Sam objected.

"He's messed thing