of the bar-room, which
was just about to be closed, and walked in. There was no one present but
the barkeeper; the people in the wagon were yelling to him to hurry up.

"Give me a drink," said Rivers.

"You have had enough for one night, it seems to me," remarked the
barkeeper.

"No," said Rivers, "just give me one drink and I'll go!"

As the barkeeper turned to take down the bottle, Rivers flipped the
letter, which he had in his hand, over towards the pigeon-hole; it just
missed its mark and fell on the floor.

"What's that?" exclaimed the barkeeper, turning hastily around, "a rat?"

"No, a mouse, I guess!" said Rivers.

"I declare, if that mouse didn't knock a letter out of the pigeon-hole!"
remarked the barkeeper as he picked it up and put it in its place.
"Hurry up, Rivers, I want to go!"

Rivers swallowed his drink and went off well pleased with his success.

His work was not done yet, as Madam Imbert had requested him to keep a
watch on Cox's house. He walked along in the direction of Cox's, and
felt almost oppressed by the perfect stillness of the night. It was not
broken even by the barking of watch-dogs. The whole place seemed
wrapped in slumber. When he reached the house, he walked carefully
around for about an hour, when a light in the second story--the only one
he had seen--was extinguished. He then crawled up close to the house,
where he could hear every movement within; but all he heard was the
shrill voice of Mrs. Cox, occasionally relieved by snorts from Cox, and
he concluded that all that was transpiring at Cox's was a severe curtain
lecture, brought about through his instrumentality. At two A. M. he
returned to his boarding-house, wrote out his report for Bangs,
enclosing the copy of Mrs. Maroney's letter, and retired after an
exciting day's work.

_CHAPTER XX._

On the following day Mrs. Maroney called on Madam Imbert, and together
they strolled through the pleasure grounds. Each narrated her sorrows,
and each wanted the support and friendship of the other.

Madam Imbert's story we will let pass. Mrs. Maroney dwelt on her
husband's hardships, and her conversation was largely a repetition of
what she had said the day before. She spoke of her husband as a
persecuted man, and said: "Wait till his trial is over and he is
vindicated! Then the Adams Express will pay for this. The Vice-President
has made the affair almost a personal one, but when Nat. is liberated
the Vice-President w