sible and
seemed to cover every man on the stage. It is needless to say that we
obeyed, got down in the full glare of the light, and lined up with
our backs to the robber, hands in the air. There was a heavily veiled
woman on the stage, whom he begged to hold the light for him, assuring
her that he never robbed a woman. This veiled person disappeared at
the time, and was supposed to have been a confederate. When the light
was held for him, he drew a black cap over each one of us, searching
everybody for weapons. Then he proceeded to rob us, and at last went
through the mail. It took him over an hour to do the job; he seemed in
no hurry.

"It was not known what he got out of the mail, but the passengers
yielded about nine hundred revenue to him, while there was three times
that amount on top the coach in my grip, wrapped in a dirty flannel
shirt. When he disappeared we were the cheapest lot of men imaginable.
It was amusing to hear the excuses, threats, and the like; but the
fact remained the same, that a dozen of us had been robbed by a lone
highwayman. I felt good over it, as the money in the grip had been
overlooked.

"Well, we cleared out the obstruction in the road, and got aboard the
coach once more. About four o'clock in the morning we arrived at our
destination, only two hours late. In the hotel office where the stage
stopped was the very man who had robbed us. He had got in an hour
ahead of us, and was a very much interested listener to the incident
as retold. There was an early train out of town that morning, and at
a place where they stopped for breakfast he sat at the table with
several drummers who were in the hold-up, a most attentive listener.

"He was captured the same day. He had hired a horse out of a livery
stable the day before, to ride out to look at a ranch he thought of
buying. The liveryman noticed that he limped slightly. He had collided
with lead in Texas, as was learned afterward. The horse which had been
hired to the ranch-buyer of the day before was returned to the corral
of the livery barn at an unknown hour during the night, and suspicion
settled on the lame man. When he got off the train at Pueblo, he
walked into the arms of officers. The limp had marked him clearly.

"In a grip which he carried were a number of sacks, which he supposed
contained gold dust, but held only taulk on its way to assayers in
Denver. These he had gotten out of the express the night before,
supposing they wer