The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-11-23
CHAPTER XII.
AN EVENING IN JAIL.

Before my ideas had had time to
straighten themselves out was lifted
to my feet and half pushed, half lifted
to the station platform. Camp was al.
ready there, and as took this fact in /
saw Frederic and his lordship pulled
through the doorway Of my car by the
cowboys and dragged out on the plat
form beside me- The reports were now
in Lord Rallies hands.
"That's what We want, boys" cried
Camp, "those letters.
Take your hands off me-, said Lord
Rallies coolly, land I'll give them to
YOU
The men who had hold Of his arms
let go of him, and quick as flash
Rallies tore the papers in two. He tried
to tear them once more, but before he
could do so half dozen men were hold
ing him and the papers were forced out
Of his hands, Albert Cullen-for all Of
them were Oh the platform of 21s by
this time-shouted, well done,
Rallesl' quite forgetting in the excite
ment of the moment his English accent
and drawl. Apparently Camp didn't
agree with him, for he ripped out
string Of oaths which he impartially d.
vided among Rallies, the cowboys and
myself. I was decidedly sorry that
hadn't given the real letters, for his
lordship apparently had no scruple about
destroying them, and I knew few men
whom I would have seen behind prison
bars with as little personal regret.
However, no one had apparently paid the
slightest attention to the pony, and the
probabilities were that he was already
headed for Baldwin's ranch, with no
likelihood Of his stopping till he reached
home. At least that was what hoped,
but there were lot Of ponies standing
about, and, not knowing the markings
of the one I had ridden, I wasn't able
to tell whether he might not be among
them.
Just as the fragments of the papers
were passed over to Mr. Camp he was
joined by Baldwin and the judge, and
Camp held the torn pieces up to them,
saying:
They've torn the proxies in two"
Don't let that trouble you, said tho
judge Make an affidavit before me,
reciting the manner in which they were
destroyed, and I'll grant you man.
damus compelling the directors to ac-
cept them as bona fide proxies. Let me
see how much injured they are"
Non,r ,,pfo1dal ho noraro opd 7
chuckled to myself at the look Of sur
prise that overspread his face as he took
in the fact that they were nothing but
section reports. And, though I don't
like cuss words have to acknowledge
that 1 enjoyed the two or three that he
promptly calculated.
When the first surprise Of the trio was
over, they called on the sheriff, who A.
rived OPPORTUNITY, to take us into 81 and
search the three Of us, proceeding that
puzzled Fred and his lordship not lit
tie, for they weren't on to the fact that
the letters hadn't been recovered. I pre-
sumo the latter will some day write
book dwelling on the favorite theme of
the foreigner-that there is no personal
privacy in America. The running re-
marks as the search was made seemed
to open Fred's eyes, for he looked at me
with a puzzled air, but I winked and
frowned at him, and he put his face in
order
When the papers were not found Oh
any Of us, Camp and Baldwin both
nearly went demented. Baldwin sug.
gested that had never had the papers,
but Camp argued that Fred or Lord
Rallies must have hidden them in the
car in spite Of the fact that the cowboys
who had caught them insisted that they
couldn't have had time to hide the pa
pers. Anyway they spent an hour in fer.
reting about in my car, and even search.
ed my two darkies, on the possibility
that the true letters had been passed on
to them.
To be continued.
Walnut brittle fresh every hour at Fer.