CHAPTER XVIII.

A PERILOUS UNDERTAKING.

"You will go up to Six Roads and see what can be done?" he asked, while his hopes sank lower and lower.

"I can't. Say, tell you what I will do. I am intending to start for Washington to-day; but when I get through there, and it won't take me more than a week. I will come back by way of the Six Roads. I wish I had let the plaguey route alone."

"That will be too late to help me," said Little Snap.

"I tell you, you want to get out of it as quick as you can. Let this Shag you speak of carry the mail until I can get around."

"I am afraid you do not understand the situation, Mr. Calvert. There is some sort of a conspiracy to rob the government, and this Dan Shag is one of those at the bottom of it."

"Oh, nonsense! you have your suspicions and jump at conclusions. It may be that some of them are trying to crowd you a little, seeing you are a boy, but we all have to put up with such things. We laugh at them when we grow older. Come into the house and have some refreshments and a few hours' sleep before you attempt your long journey home. Jove! you showed good grit in undertaking it."

"I undertook it in the good faith that you would stand by me in this affair, Mr. Calvert, and though it is worth something for me to know how you feel about it, I am disappointed to find you do not care for the welfare of the route, for whose success or failure you are really responsible."

"You are pretty blunt, I will say that for you. I am inclined to think you will be a hard one for them to bluff down."

"I shall stand up for my rights, Mr. Calvert, as long as I can. Can't you come to Six Roads before you go to Washington? They are expecting you."

"You said Mr. Warfield still stands by you?"

"Yes, sir."

"Then, I think I can fix you all right. I will give you a note to him to stand by you until I come to town, though I still advise you to get out of it."

Little Snap saw that it was no use to urge him more, so he remained silent, while Mr. Calvert hastily scribbled away on a slip of paper he took from his pocket. When he had finished, he read:

"VOLNEY, Va., Sept. 18.

"MR. JASON WARFIELD, Union Six Roads, Va.

"DEAR SIR: Stand by the bearer of this, Mr. Dix Lewis, in his troubles as far as you think prudent, until I can see you.

Your obt. servant,

MARION CALVERT."

"There, I think that will do the business. Sorry you don't feel like coming in to rest until daylight. It's a long, lonesome ride before you."

Thanking him, Little Snap took the piece of paper, and carefully placing it in one of his pockets, he wheeled the horse about to start homeward.

"Hold on!" cried Mr. Calvert, as the postboy gained the road.

Little Snap turned the horse and galloped back into the yard, wondering and hoping.

"I wanted to say that you will no doubt see the wisdom of my advice before you get home."

"If that is all you have to say to me farther, Mr. Calvert," said our hero, somewhat sharply, "I will bid you good-night! My name is at stake in this matter, and I will know the right and the wrong of it before I am driven out."

The postboy spoke more sharply than he intended, but the other's last words had cut like a knife. Without waiting for a reply, he touched the horse smartly with the spurs and sped down the road at a furious pace.

"I should know he was a Lewis if I hadn't heard his name," muttered the mail contractor, as he watched the boyish rider out of sight. "I ought to have known better than to have let him fool with the business at the outset, but Rimmon said he could do it. Well, I must get ready for my start to the capital."

His hopes crushed, so far as expecting any aid from Mr. Calvert was concerned, Little Snap pursued his homeward journey with a gloomy mind. Since midnight the sky had become overcast, so it was quite dark—too dark for him to note his surroundings with any clearness.

The ride back as far as Mr. Renders' seemed shorter than he had expected, and he found that gentleman awaiting his coming.

"You went pretty quick, but Jim don't show his journey a bit. I tell you that horse can't be beat very easy. Pay? I don't want a red cent. I have fed your horses, so they are all right to start. How'd you find Calvert? He's cranky sometimes, but a fairly good sort of a fellow as men go. Wish he might go to Congress rather than that old Warfield. Never liked that old duffer; he's deceitful. Nothing of that kind about Cal. Hello! Starting?"

While Mr. Renders had been running on in his sort of haphazard way, Little Snap had put the saddle on Jack's back and sprung into the seat.

"I wish you would take pay for the use of your horse, Mr. Renders, but if you won't, I am a thousand times obliged to you, and I hope I can do you a favor some time. Good-night."

"He's right after his business!" said the other to himself, as the clatter of horses' hoofs died out in the distance. "That boy is bound to succeed."

Riding swiftly homeward, Little Snap was saying to his dumb companions:

"I have to fight my own battles, and this trip has been for nothing. No; not for nothing, for I know just what to do now. You needn't crowd on quite so hard, Jack; we have plenty of time."

Shifting from one animal to the other when he thought best, Little Snap rode on through the night, unmindful of the gathering stormclouds, though he kept a sharp gaze as he drew near the lonesome spot where he had been accosted by the stranger.

Not a sound broke the deathlike silence, save the dull tramp of his horses' feet, and with a feeling of relief he had soon left the place a mile behind.

At Greenbrier the postboy shifted steeds, giving Jack another rest, intending to return to him at Daring's Diamond.

No one was astir at this place yet, neither was there any sign of life at Hollow Tree. But he hadn't gone a dozen rods beyond the Tree before a sharp voice commanded him to stop, and he suddenly found his way blocked with a body of armed men.

Three or four caught upon Fairy's bit with a force which dragged her back upon her haunches, and Little Snap was nearly pulled from his seat.

Realizing his desperate situation, the postboy dextrously slipped the bridle from the mare's head, at the same time shouting for her to rush on. Rallying, she made the wild attempt, and Jack, having already cleared a way through the party, she followed upon his heels.

Shots rang about the fleeing postboy's head, some of the bullets flying uncomfortably near, but he fancied he was going to get away, when he dashed furiously down the descent leading to Greenbrier bridge.

As he came in sight of the stream with its high, precipitous banks, a cry of dismay left his lips. Every bridge plank had been removed, and only the stringers spanned the dark chasm of foaming waters!

Retreat cut off, with no possible chance to ford the stream, Little Snap saw at a glance that he was rushing into a veritable deathtrap!

The cries of his pursuers rang exultantly in his ears.