iography,
tells a great story of how scared Mark was, and how he ran; but Stewart
was three thousand miles from Virginia by that time, and later got mad at
Mark because he made a joke about him in 'Roughing It'.

"Denis wanted to take his hands down pretty soon after we were gone, but
Mark said:

"'No, Denis, I'm used to obeying orders when they are given in that
convincing way; we'll just keep our hands up another fifteen minutes or
so for good measure.'

"We were waiting in a big saloon on C Street when Mark and Denis came
along. We knew they would come in, and we expected Mark would be
excited; but he was as unruffled as a mountain lake. He told us they had
been robbed, and asked me if I had any money. I gave him a hundred
dollars of his own money, and he ordered refreshments for everybody. Then
we adjourned to the Enterprise office, where he offered a reward, and Dan
de Quille wrote up the story and telegraphed it to the other newspapers.
Then somebody suggested that Mark would have to give another lecture now,
and that the robbery would make a great subject. He entered right into
the thing, and next day we engaged Piper's Opera House, and people were
offering five dollars apiece for front seats. It would have been the
biggest thing that ever came to Virginia if it had come off. But we made
a mistake, then, by taking Sandy Baldwin into the joke. We took in Joe
here, too, and gave him the watch and money to keep, which made it hard
for Joe afterward. But it was Sandy Baldwin that ruined us. He had Mark
out to dinner the night before the show was to come off, and after he got
well warmed up with champagne he thought it would be a smart thing to let
Mark into what was really going on.

"Mark didn't see it our way. He was mad clear through."

At this point Joseph Goodman took up the story. He said:

"Those devils put Sam's money, watch, keys, pencils, and all his things
into my hands. I felt particularly mean at being made accessory to the
crime, especially as Sam was my guest, and I had grave doubts as to how
he would take it when he found out the robbery was not genuine.

"I felt terribly guilty when he said:

"'Joe, those d--n thieves took my keys, and I can't get into my trunk. Do
you suppose you could get me a key that would fit my trunk?'

"I said I thought I could during the day, and after Sam had gone I took
his own key, put it in the fire and burnt it to make it look black. Then
I took a file and scra