CHAPTER XV.

A LONG AND A VAIN WATCH.

Mrs. Lewis was still very nervous concerning the trouble, though she grew calmer as Little Snap spoke so confidently of his ultimate success.

"I have it, mother. I'll tell you just what I am going to do. I am going to see Mr. Calvert.

"I would, my son."

"He is just the man for me to find. He has the contract for carrying the mail on this route, and when he sublet it to me, he told me if I had the least bit of trouble to let him know. He ought to know it, too."

"Mr. Calvert can clear up the affair, if any one can. I wish he was here now."

"I'll have him here before long, and then we shall have no further reason to worry. I wonder I hadn't thought of him before."

"Well, don't let the matter trouble you any longer. It is getting late, and you had better retire. You will need all the rest you can get."

"Rest, mother? I am not going to sleep until I have seen Mr. Calvert, and explained the matter to him."

"But you cannot see him to-night."

"I must."

"Why, he lives fifty miles from here. Didn't Mr. Rimmon ask you to be at the office in the morning?"

"Yes, and so I will. I know it is a long ride to Volney, Mr. Calvert's home, but I shall take both Jack and Fairy, and I will fetch around before six in the morning, never fear."

"I am afraid you cannot. What if you shouldn't?"

"I will not fail, mother, so please do not object any longer. Every moment is precious to me. The horses have had their supper, and I will be away in less than three minutes."

It was little wonder if Mrs. Lewis looked with anxious foreboding upon this movement, for it certainly did seem a hopeless undertaking. Little Snap, in his boyish enthusiasm, did not stop to count the cost. Neither did he realize the possible consequence of his absence at that time. Whoever may be inclined to censure him for such a rash attempt must remember that he acted upon the impulse of the moment, and not with the clear judgment he would have shown a few years later. I speak of this now in slight extenuation of the startling result to follow.

Losing no further time in talk, the postboy threw the saddle on Fairy's back, and when she was in readiness for a start, he led Jack out of his stall, and slipped the bridle on his head.

"I wouldn't do it, Jack, old fellow, only I must. We have a long ride before us, and a strange one."

The next moment he was in the saddle and ready for a start.

"Don't get worried, mother, whatever happens. I can look out for myself. I count on getting to Volney about one o'clock; then I shall rest an hour and a half before starting back. I will get home, if nothing happens, at half-past five."

"I wish you weren't going. But you must speak to Mr. Rimmon as you go past his house. You will, won't you?"

Promising that, Little Snap bent over to give his good-by kiss, and the following moment he was speeding swiftly away on his long journey.

"I have done wrong, I know I have, in letting him go," she said, to herself, as she watched him out of sight.

With no thought of sleep, she returned to the house to begin her lonely vigil.

Dix had not been gone more than fifteen minutes before a loud thumping upon the door startled her from her unhappy reverie.

Looking out of the window, she was still further terrified by the appearance of half a dozen men in front of the house.

"What is wanted?" she asked, in a tremulous voice.

"We want that precious scamp, Dix Lewis!" came the reply in the well-known voice of Sheriff Brady.

"Oh, dear! what does this mean?" she exclaimed.

"Are you going to open the door, or shall we have to break it down?"

"My son is not here—he is gone!" she cried. "He has——"

Renewed thumping on the door drowned the conclusion of her sentence.

"Gone?" demanded the furious tone of the sheriff. "Woman, what do you mean? Stave in the door, men!"

"No—no! I am opening it. How my hand does shake. Wait a moment, please."

Trembling so she could hardly stand alone, Mrs. Lewis soon threw open the door, saying:

"What has happened now?"

"Happened? Jason Warfield has decided not to stand on your son's bail, and Judge Claverton has found out that Rimmon is no good there, as he is already in the employ of the government. So we want the body of the boy. Where is he hiding?"

It was useless for Mrs. Lewis to try and make the sheriff and his posse believe Little Snap had gone away as she had said, until they had searched the house from top to bottom. Then they unanimously decided that he had run away!

In the midst of the excitement Mr. Rimmon appeared on the scene, when the distracted mother appealed to him.

"He told you that he was going to Volney, didn't he, Mr. Rimmon?"

The postmaster shook his head.

"I have not seen him since we parted after the trial. I am sorry this has happened."

"Well, it puts me in a hard place," said the sheriff, "and I tell you what I shall be obliged to do. If he don't turn up before morning, I shall raze this house to the ground and put every one of you in jail! So if you know where the precious scamp is hiding, bring him forth, or the worst will be your own."

In vain Mrs. Lewis explained, pleaded with the obdurate men. The only hope she could have was in the promise that nothing should be done until six o'clock in the morning. If Little Snap failed to come then, no mercy would be shown to the family.

"He will! he will! I am sure of that!"

"Then be calm and wait. We must keep a guard about the house."

At daylight it seemed that every inhabitant of Six Roads was astir, and anxious, excited groups began to collect here and there.

Excepting Mrs. Lewis, Mr. Rimmon was perhaps the most anxious person, and he kept an almost continual watch up and down the road.

"It was the height of folly for him to have started off in that way. It is utterly impossible for him to get here by six, and if he don't, God have mercy on his home. I am powerless to help them. What! Can it be so near six? Here comes Shag for the mail bag."

Mounted upon a tall, raw-boned horse, the postmaster of Hollow Tree rode up in front of the post office.

"Good-morning, Mr. Rimmon. I s'pose ye heerd what th' judge sed las' evenin' thet I'm to carry th' mail arter this. I hev resigned the Tree office, so it's all regular. Seein' I'm new to th' bizness, I thought mebbe ye wouldn't object to lettin' me start a leetle arly th' fust time."

"I shall object, most decidedly, Mr. Shag."

"Hev yit yer own way, Mr. Rimmon, though ye'll find I ain't a boy to be run over. Ye'll let me hev it at six sharp, or thar'll be war in th' United States camp."

To this the postmaster made no reply, while one and all waited the outcome of this trying scene.

In the midst of the fearful ordeal the sun rose above the crest of the distant mountains, and then a murmur ran along the expectant crowd.

"It's six o'clock!" cried Sheriff Brady, consulting his watch. "The time is up, Mrs. Lewis, and the boy has not come, as I knew he wouldn't. I have kept my word, and you cannot expect any more."

"It's six!" exclaimed Dan Shag, moving uneasily in his saddle. "Hand over thet mail bag, Mr. Rimmon, fer ye can't hol' it enny longer."

The postmaster cast a last, anxious gaze down the road before he replied, and then a cry of great relief left his lips.

"He is coming!"

Eagerly the spectators looked down the road, and a murmur of joy arose on the air, as they saw the figure of a horse galloping rapidly toward the town. But the look of relief on the faces of all turned to one of dread expectancy, as they discovered that the creature was riderless!

It was Jack, the postboy's favorite steed, his sides covered with foam, and his breath coming in quick, short gasps, as he sped like the wind toward his home, but Little Snap was not on his back!