Page:A New England Tale.djvu/168

Rh outrage; and, besides, we have reason to believe the pistol was neither primed nor loaded; but, that he had provided himself with it for emergencies which might occur in the desperate career in which he had engaged. He had been concerned with two ingenious villains in changing the denomination of bank bills. His accomplices had been detected and imprisoned, and they were now exacting money from him by threatening to disclose his agency in the transaction.

Always careless of involving himself in guilt, and goaded on by the fear of the state-prison, he resolved, without hesitation, on this robbery, which would not only give him the means of present relief, but would supply him with a store for future demands, which he had every reason to expect from the character of his comrades.