--when he was able to be about
again--bitterly reproached the president and demanded a bonus on the
ground that he had knocked Lars down several times before he--Lars--got
angry; and also because of a disquisition in the Finnish tongue which
Lars Porsena had emitted during the procedure--which address, the
prizefighter stated, had unnerved him and so led to his undoing. It was
obviously, he said, of a nature inconceivably insulting; the memory of
it rankled yet, though he had heard only the beginning and did not get
the--But let that pass.

The thing became a scandal. Watchman succeeded watchman on the company
payroll and the hospital list, until some one hit upon a happy and
ingenious way to avoid this indignity. Lars Porsena was appointed
watchman.

This statesmanlike policy bore gratifying results. Lars Porsena
straightway abandoned his absurd and indefensible custom, and no
imitator arose. Also, Arcadia within the moat--the island--which was
the limit of his jurisdiction, became the most orderly spot in New
Mexico.

* * * * *

In the first gray of dawn, Uncle Sam, whistling down Main Street on his
way home from the masquerade, found Lars Porsena lying on his face in a
pool of blood.

The belated reveler knelt beside him. The watchman was shot, but still
breathed. "Ho! Murder! Help! Murder!" shouted Uncle Sam. The alarm
rolled crashing along the quiet street. Heads were thrust from windows;
startled voices took up the outcry; other home-goers ran from every
corner; hastily arrayed householders poured themselves from street
doors.

Lars Porsena was in disastrous plight. He breathed, but that was about
all. He was shot through the body. A trail of blood led back a few doors
to Lake's Bank. A window was cut out; the blood began at the sill.

Messengers ran to telephone the doctor, the sheriff, Lake. The knot of
men grew to a crowd. A rumor spread that there had been an unusual
amount of currency in the bank over night--a rumor presently confirmed
by Bassett, the bareheaded and white-faced cashier. It was near payday;
in addition to the customary amount to cash checks for railroaders and
millhands--itself no mean sum--and the money for regular business,
there had been provision for contemplated loans to promoters of new
local industries.

The doctor came running, made a hasty examination, took emergency
measures to stanch the freshly started blood, and swore whole-heartedly
at t