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160 eagerly. "I can't afford to lose forty-five dollars' worth of stuff at once."

"You say you didn't do the job, and that you think you can put us on the right track?"

"I think I can do something for you," returned Matt.

And in a few brief words he told how he happened to be at the bridge and what he had seen. The constable listened with deep interest, but Isaac Marvelling pooh-poohed the whole story.

"He's a good one at telling 'em," said the storekeeper. "I don't place no credit in what he says."

"Well, it won't do any harm to investigate," replied Jackson. "You hold him, while I light my lantern and take a look under the bridge."

"He may try to get away from me," said Marvelling, as he surveyed Matt's tall and well-built form with some trepidation. "He would most likely do anything to keep out of jail."

"I have more at stake than you have," cried the young auctioneer.

"Indeed?"

"Yes, sir. I consider my reputation worth considerably more than a paltry forty-five dollars."

"Do you? Well, to me the reputation of a traveling and swindling auctioneer isn't worth much!" grumbled Isaac Marvelling.