faces.

"By George! now, I reckon it wouldn't be any use in me tryin' to scare
you by threatening to jail you for aiding in the escape of a desperate
criminal, would it?" he remarked, pretending to look very serious, but
with that twinkle again in evidence, as Allan saw.

"You just couldn't;" declared Giraffe, while Bumpus began to move a
little uneasily in his seat; "in the first place, we don't know
anything more'n we've told you; secondly, we haven't assisted anybody
to escape, because we're right here, johnny-on-the-spot, and it's our
scoutmaster who's gone; and then, last of all, there ain't any
desperate criminal at all; only a poor, persecuted boy, with the grit
that you just want your own chap to show, Mr. Sheriff,--ready to fight
everybody, for the sake of his mother and sisters."

Sheriff Bob wagged his head slowly, as though mentally digesting what
the other had just said.

"H'm! that remains to be seen, boy," he remarked; although Giraffe
believed he did not feel one-half as ferocious as he chose to look
just then. "Duty is duty, no matter how unpleasant it may seem,
sometimes."

"I'm glad to hear you take that sensible view of the matter, Mr.
Sheriff," said the old Denver lawyer, in his oily tones. "You mustn't
believe one-tenth of what boys say. They would as soon prevaricate as
eat their breakfast; that is, some of the breed would, though
doubtless your son is an exception to the rule. These scouts, as they
choose to call themselves, have fixed up a story to suit themselves,
and they hope to enlist your sympathy; but I know that a stern sense
of duty will compel you to close your ears to anything they may say. I
demand that you exercise every effort possible, looking to the
immediate arrest of my rascally nephew, Alexander Rawson, whom I
accuse of stealing valuable papers from my pocketbook while I was a
guest under his mother's roof, and then disappearing."

"Oh! very well, sir, don't excite yourself about my movements,"
remarked Sheriff Bob, assuming a pompous air, though Allan thought he
winked slily in his direction while speaking. "You will find no cause
to complain to my superiors concerning any shortcomings on my part.
And up to now, you must admit I have been unflagging in my endeavor to
locate the fugitive from justice. Make your mind easy, Mr. Rawson, I
see my duty clear in the premises, and can be depended on to do it."

Watching his chance a little later Allan followed the sheriff, whe