quiet and peaceful citizens were sipping their coffee and rum apart
from the stormy politics of the centre-table.

Whilst an animated conversation was carried on two young lads came
running down-stairs and rushed into the street through the front door.

"Who are those young men?" asked again the stranger of the waiter.

"They are the sons of Senor Pereira," was the answer.

"The sons of Pereira! They are the daughters of Cassier!" said the
stranger in a loud voice, who had now become the hero of the room and
had penetrated a deep and clever plot.

He ran to the street, but the fugitives had disappeared in the darkness;
their gentle tread was not heard on the pavement, and no observer was
near to indicate the course they had taken. The whole scheme of
Cassier's bold disguise flashed with unerring conviction on the
stranger's mind--the voice, the eye, the gait were Cassier's. He was
familiar with the family, and in the hurried glance he got of the
youths rushing by the saloon door he thought he recognized the contour
of Alvira's beautiful face. He hastened to communicate his startling
discovery to the Superintendent of the Police, and the city was once
more in a state of excitement.

Chapter XI.

The Flight.

The sensation caused by the startling failure and embezzlement of the
wealthy banker had scarcely subsided when the city rang with the news
of his clever disguise and daring escape. Angry Justice, foiled in her
revenge, lashed herself to rage, and moaned her defeat like the forest
queen robbed of her young. The Government feared the popular cry,
and proved its zeal by offering immense rewards for the arrest of the
delinquent banker. The country around the city was guarded, every
suspicious vehicle examined, and strangers ran the risk of being mobbed
before they could prove their identity. False rumors now and then ran
through the city, raising and quelling the passions like a tide. At
one time the culprit is caught and safely lodged in the Bastile; at
another he is as free as the deer on the plains. Cassier did escape,
but some incidents of the chase were perilous and exciting.

Travelling in those days was slow and difficult. The giant steam-engines
that now sweep over hills and torrents with a speed that rivals the
swoop of the sea-bird were unknown. The rickety old diligence or
stage-coach was only found on the principal thoroughfares between the
large cities.

Cassier knew these ro