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 “The leader of the posse shakes Ogden and wakes him up. And then he jumps up, and two more of the reward-hunters grab him. Ogden was mighty tough with all his slimness, and he gives ’em as neat a single-footed tussle against odds as I ever see.

“‘What does this mean?’ he says, after they had him down.

“‘You’re scooped in, Mr. Black Bill,’ says the captain. ‘That’s all.’

“‘It’s an outrage,’ says H. Ogden, madder yet.

“‘It was,’ says the peace-and-good-will man. ‘The Katy wasn’t bothering you, and there’s a law against monkeying with express packages.’

“And he sits on H. Ogden’s stomach and goes through his pockets symptomatically and careful.

“‘I’ll make you perspire for this,’ says Ogden, perspiring some himself. ‘I can prove who l am.’

“‘So can I,’ says the captain, as he draws from H. Ogden’s inside coat-pocket a handful of new bills of the Second National Bank of Espinosa City. ‘Your regular engraved Tuesdays-and-Fridays visiting-card wouldn’t have a louder voice in proclaiming your indemnity than this here currency. You can get up now and prepare to go with us and expatriate your sins.’ Rh