some little distance away and the path was no less
easy for travel than at first although it was wider and evidently more
traversed as if used now and then by fishermen or picknickers.

Coming near the bridge he was looking for a good place to leave the path
and reach the road when he saw something half in the water and half on
the ground that at once arrested his attention.

It seemed to be a rubber bag and was evidently heavy by its looks, the
part on the ground being deep in the sand as if it had been thrown from
the bridge.

At once it dawned upon him that here was an important discovery.

"I wonder if that is not some of the plunder stolen from the bank or
from the station?" he thought to himself.

Some had advanced the theory that the robbers had not carried off all
that they had stolen, some had said that the men had gone across the
creek and then back and it at once occurred to Jack that they had not
gone to the bridge for nothing and that here was something that they had
gotten rid of at the time on account of the risk of being discovered
with it and for which they meant to return at some convenient time.

Making his way down the bank, which at this point was quite steep, the
boy rested on one knee, took hold of a stout sapling and tried to lift
the bag half out of water.

It was quite heavy, as he had supposed and considerable of a tug was
required to draw it out of the water and close to him.

This he accomplished, however, and then, using the sapling to aid him,
he drew the bag farther up on the bank and then to the top where he put
it down and started to open it.

There was a stout cord around the neck of the bag but this he loosened
with some little trouble on account of its having been swollen and made
tighter by the water.

Opening the bag he caught sight of a polished tin despatch or cash box,
a bundle of letters, a package of bills and a thick envelope which
probably contained postage stamps by its appearance.

Reaching in and taking out the cash box, the first thing that attracted
his attention were the letters on the cover.

"Hello! Riverton National Bank!" he exclaimed. "Then they did get
something from the bank after all. What is this? Bunch of registered
mail for the little post-office down here. Well, it was lucky I was
thrown down the bank after all."

Putting back the contents of the bag and securing it with the cord, Jack
now made his way toward the end of the bridge, looking up