longer, if this keeps on," remarked
Andy. "We'll have to pick out some place to settle down in for the
winter."

"Have you any place in view?" asked Matt, with interest.

"I've had my eye on Middletown, New York State. That's a lively place,
and it gets a trade from a good many miles around."

"Do you think we can make it?"

"I think so. We can go from Scranton to Carbondale, and Honesdale, and
so on through Lackawaxen and Port Jervis. By taking that route we can
stop on the way and still reach Middletown inside of two weeks."

"Well, I shouldn't like to miss a letter from Miss Bartlett, if it was
sent."

"You can leave directions to forward it if it comes after we are gone.
The post-office authorities will willingly send the letter wherever
you direct."

"Perhaps she has already written."

"If you think so, why don't you call at the post-office and find
out?"

"I will--as soon as we have had something to eat and drink."

They passed over to the Commercial Hotel, and after brushing up,
entered the dining-room. Here a late dinner was served for them, and
it is needless to say that both did full justice to all that was set
before them.

After they had finished Andy went off to hunt up an empty store, and
Matt, after securing directions, walked off to the post-office.

To his delight, there was a letter for him, and addressed in Ida
Bartlett's hand. As it was the first letter he had received since
being on the road, the reader can understand his curiosity to master
its contents. Standing back in an out-of-the-way spot of the corridor,
he split open the envelope with his penknife, and was soon reading
that which had been written.

The letter surprised him not a little. After acknowledging the receipt
of the money order and congratulating him upon his evident success,
Ida Bartlett wrote as follows:

"And now, Matt, I am going to tell you something that I think will
interest you even more than it does me. It is about Mr. Fenton and
the mining shares which he once sold your father. Last week Mr.
Gaston, the bookkeeper, had a quarrel with Mr. Fenton, and was
discharged. Before he left, however, he and Mr. Fenton had some
high words, which I, being in the next office, could not help
hearing.

"During this quarrel something was said about the shares sold to
William Lincoln, and Mr. Gaston said that if the papers in
connection with the shares which your father had bought could be
recover