rd them say that the railroad and city policemen had
identified the dead robber as one of the most dangerous criminals in the
land for whose apprehension "dead or alive", the government offered a
large reward. He also heard that the same country store post office had
been dynamited twice in the past three months, and that the postmaster
had set a trap with the aid of his neighbors, to give the next gang of
burgling yeggs a hot reception.

Presently a loud shout was heard and the crowd made a rush to the front
of the station. Joe followed and saw a dirt covered man, securely
manacled to an officer, entering the waiting room. Joe instantly
recognized Boston Frank, and heard that he had been caught by a farmer's
posse, who, following a trail of blood that had dripped from the buggy,
had surprised Boston Frank while he was busy at work burying the
satchels containing the burglar tools.

Joe caught Boston Frank's eye and forthwith pushed himself alongside the
yegg. While the officer to whom he was manacled paid close attention to
the postmaster, who told him that although yeggs had spoiled his safe
for a third time, he had protected his own and the government's
valuables by having placed a quart bottle of formaldehyde in the safe,
Boston Frank contrived to whisper to Joe that he had Slippery's purse in
his hip pocket, and for him to take it and keep its contents, as he
himself would have little use for cash in the penitentiary, for a long
term now stared him in the face, and he ordered Joe to purchase a ticket
and take the first train leaving for Chicago and to warn the others, as
the officers, while searching him had found an incriminating letter that
bore upon its envelope the correct address of the gang's hangout.

Joe did as Boston Frank had directed, and a moment later he had,
unobserved, abstracted a well-filled purse from the latter's pocket and
hid it in his own. He then made his way to the ticket window and called
for a ticket to Chicago. When he pulled out the purse that Boston Frank
had told him belonged to the slain criminal, he almost dropped it from
sheer surprise, as he instantly recognized it as his own purse, the very
one that had been stolen from him at the Golden Rule Hotel, and the loss
of which had started all of his misfortunes. He paid for the ticket and
then in a secluded spot he counted the contents of the purse, which
proved to be a windfall to the penniless lad, as it amounted to twelve
dollars.