sburg. But, to the utter
mortification of Inspector Byrnes and his myriads, of Pinkerton and his
myrmidons, they were bound to confess their utter failure. The
perpetrators of the incredible deed, like

"An arm
Clothed in white samite, mystic, wonderful,"

brandished the sword in the air and disappeared.

In the meantime the political nation was aroused. It experienced some
measure of relief to know, if it were true, that its chief was held for
paltry gold. In that case, he and his would be safe from the assassin's
sword or the vengeance of an alien party whose hatred he had incurred by
patriotic scorn in his inaugural address. An yet, the question was
raised whether some treasonable secret society had not secluded him,
hoping to increase its revenue at the expense of the United States
treasury. Many went so far as to pronounce it a Fenian plot to raise
money for Parnell in his final overthrow of English rule in Ireland.
Constituents wrote to their representatives in Washington, instructing
them to vote the ransom, without delay, from the surplus fund, which was
now one hundred and seventy-eight million dollars. Others instructed
them not to waste the public money, as the President and his spouse must
soon be found by competent detectives, and thus a "creditable saving to
the treasury" would be made. The Vice-President, who had succeeded to
full powers, sent a special message to Congress, requesting it to vote
the ransom, no matter how enormous. The strain on him was not worth the
people's money. So Congress met in secret session, and spent the balance
of the week fighting, temporizing, and receiving telegrams to the effect
that new clews were found.

On the twenty-second of June, exactly two weeks from the time of the
distinguished capture, the following epigrammatic communication was
printed by the New York _Herald_, in the same handwriting as the
previous one. The envelope bore a Chicago postmark:

"_Congress has disregarded our generous offer: The ransom for
the President of the United States and for his wife is
therefore raised two million dollars._"

This was all; cold and ominous. Like the first message it was unsigned.
The style was unrelenting and imperious. Citizens awoke to the sensation
that they who were now the nation's martyrs were in the hands of men who
would not shrink from enforcing their demand. It was now universally
believed that these were _bo