urning to the barkeeper.

"Yes, you paid me."

"Thought I did--didn't know."

As he spoke, Jack Minton's head fell forward on the table, and he closed
his eyes. The last potation was too much for him.

"You'd better take your friend away," said the barkeeper, eying Jack
without much favor. "I don't want him to go to sleep here!"

"He's no friend of mine," answered Mark.

"Didn't you come in with him? Didn't he treat you?"

"Yes, but I only accepted because he looked quarrelsome, and I was
afraid he might take offense if I refused."

"If I let him stay here I shall charge him extra."

"Do as you like! I never saw him but once before, and I don't care to
have anything to do with him. I wish you would let me pay for that
sarsaparilla I had. I don't want to feel that he treated me."

"He has paid, and I can't take pay twice."

"Then take the money and return it to him."

Mark without waiting to see if his proposal was accepted put a dime on
the counter, and left the saloon. He met a newsboy with copies of a
morning Buffalo paper. He bought one, and turning to New York news, his
eyes fell upon a paragraph which surprised and excited him.

CHAPTER XX.

A NEWSPAPER PARAGRAPH.

This was the paragraph that attracted Mark's attention:

"This morning Mrs. Rachel Mack, an old woman over seventy years of
age, living in an upper room at No. 174 St. Mark's Place, was found
insensible in her room, as the result of an attack made by some
person unknown. When found she seemed very much frightened and was
unable to give a coherent account of what had happened.

"From marks upon her throat it was clear that her assailant had
nearly strangled her. His intention was obvious. Though living in a
poor room amid squalid surroundings, neighbors testified that Mrs.
Mack is comparatively rich, being in fact a female miser, and this
was doubtless known to her assailant. The old woman testified that
she kept one hundred dollars in bills in the bureau drawer. This
sum was missing, having evidently been taken by the person who
attacked her.

"She was not in a condition to throw much light upon the affair,
being dazed and confused. When she recovers from her temporary
stupefaction she may be able to give the police a clew that will
lead to the arrest of the man who robbed her."

When Mark read this paragraph he decided at once that Jack Mi