rrivals following eagerly until the
door was shut and barred. Into the hands of a sheriff did Loring
personally commit his prisoner. Then calling to his aid the chief clerk,
he tried the key in the lock of the safe. It worked exactly. Then he
turned to the civil officer of the law.

"Guard this man well," said he. "He has escaped twice before. It is not
Captain Newhall. He is a thief--whose name is Nevins."

"And you hear me, young cock of the walk," was the furious outbreak of
the captive runagate, "you stole that key from me--to whom it was given
to deliver to Colonel Stevens. It isn't the first time you stole either.
You'll sweat for this night's work so sure as there's a God in heaven!"

CHAPTER XXIII.

Gate City had found a hero and wished to worship him, but its hero
proved as intractable as he was reticent. For three days after the
capture of Nevins the community was agog with rumor and excitement. To
begin with, the captive "had the cheek of a brass monkey," said the
sheriff, and swore stoutly that he was a wronged and injured man. So far
from being a prisoner he should be on a pinnacle, rewarded by a generous
and grateful government for important services rendered. Who but he had
followed and found the renegade major and wrested from him full
confession and the key of the safe, which in turn had been forcibly
wrested from him through the malevolent jealousy of that upstart
Engineer; but never, said Nevins, would he now betray Burleigh's
hiding-place or impart his confession until full reparation was made for
the wrongs and indignities heaped upon him. The sheriff was fairly
dazed.

"Who were all the fellows you had with you," he demanded, "if they
weren't some of Hank Birdsall's crowd, come there to raid the
quartermaster's department depot?" Nevins' indignation was fine to see.
He denied all knowledge of the presence of any such. He demanded an
interview with Folsom. He utterly refused at first to accord one to his
wife, as Naomi Fletcher, Folsom's housekeeper was now understood to be.
That woman was in league with his enemies, he swore. That woman wrote
and bade him come and then had Folsom and Loring and other armed men
there to pounce upon him. Folsom came and had a few words with him, but
told him bluntly that he wouldn't believe his preposterous story, and
would have nothing to do with him until he withdrew the outrageous
accusations against both his wife and Loring. That woman's a million
t