!" he said, with a rather piteous smile. "It's
my stomach, Solomon!" Mahaffy seized him by the shoulders with lean
muscular hands. "Pull!" cried the judge hoarsely. But Mahaffy's vigorous
efforts failed to move him.

"I guess you're stuck, Price!"

"Get your wind, Solomon," urged the judge, "and then, if Hannibal will
reach up and work about my middle with his knuckles while you pull, I
may get through." But even this expedient failed.

"Do you reckon you can get me back? I should not care to spend the night
so!" said the judge. He was purple and panting.

"Let's try you edgewise!" And Mahaffy pushed the judge into the jail
again.

"No," said the judge, after another period of resolute effort on his
part and on the part of Mahaffy. "Providence has been kind to me in
the past, but it's clear she didn't have me in mind when they cut this
hole."

"Well, Price, I guess all we can do is to go back to town and see if I
can get into my cabin--I've got an old saw there. If I can find it,
I can come again to-morrow night and cut away one of the logs, or the
cleats of the door."

"In Heaven's name, do that to-night, Solomon!" implored the judge. "Why
procrastinate?"

"Price, there's a pack of dogs in this neighborhood, and we must have
a full night to move in, or they'll pull us down before we've gone ten
miles!"

The judge groaned.

"You're right, Solomon; I'd forgotten the dogs," and he groaned again.

Mahaffy closed and fastened the shutter, then he and Hannibal stole
across the clearing and entered the woods. The judge flung off his
clothes and went to bed, determined to sleep away as many hours as
possible. He was only aroused by the arrival of his breakfast, which the
sheriff brought about eight o'clock.

"Well, if I was in your boots I couldn't sleep like you!" remarked that
official admiringly. "But I reckon, sir, this ain't the first time the
penitentiary has stared you in the face."

"Then you reckon wrong," said the judge sententiously, as he hauled on
his trousers.

"No?--you needn't hurry none. I'll get them dishes when I fetch your
dinner," he added, as he took his leave.

A little later the blacksmith appeared and fitted three iron bars to the
window.

"I reckon that'll hold you, old feller!" he observed pleasantly.

He was disposed to linger, since he was interested in the mechanical
means employed in the making of counterfeit money and thirsted for
knowledge at first hand. Also, he had in