elieve it."

"Why don't you believe the men?" asked Miss Cullen.

"First, because there is always a tendency to magnify, and next,
because the road agents ran away so quickly."

"I counted at least seven," asserted Lord Ralles.

"Well, Lord Ralles," I said, "I don't want to dispute your
eyesight, but if they had been that strong they would never have
bolted, and if you want to lay a bottle of wine, I'll wager that
when I catch those chaps we'll find there weren't more than three
or four of them."

"Done!" he snapped.

Leaving the group, I went forward to get the report of the mail
agent. He had put things to rights, and told me that, though the
mail had been pretty badly mixed up, only one pouch at worst had
been rifled. This--the one for registered mail--had been cut
open, but, as if to increase the mystery, the letters had been
scattered, unopened, about the car, only three out of the whole
being missing, and those very probably had fallen into the
pigeon-holes and would be found on a more careful search.

I confess I breathed easier to think that the road agents had got
away with nothing, and was so pleased that I went back to the
wire to send the news of it, that the fact might be included in
the press despatches. The moon had set, and it was so dark that I
had some difficulty in finding the pole. When I found it, Miss
Cullen was still standing there. What was more, a man was close
beside her, and as I came up I heard her say, indignantly,--

"I will not allow it. It is unfair to take such advantage of me.
Take your arm away, or I shall call for help!"

That was enough for me. One step carried my hundred and sixty
pounds over the intervening ground, and, using the momentum of
the stride to help, I put the flat of my hand against the
shoulder of the man and gave him a shove. There are three or four
Harvard men who can tell what that means, and they were braced
for it, which this fellow wasn't. He went staggering back as if
struck by a cow-catcher, and lay down on the ground a good
fifteen feet away. His having his arm around Miss Cullen's waist
unsteadied her so that she would have fallen too if I hadn't put
my hand against her shoulder. I longed to put it about her, but
by this time I didn't want to please myself, but to do only what
I thought she would wish, and so restrained myself.

Before I had time to finish an apology to Miss Cullen, the fellow
was up on his feet, and came at me with an exclamati