twin sister ye've got?"

Hope smiled, although her eyes were misty.

"Oh, no; Fred and I were the only children; but what shall I do? What
ought I to do?"

The Irish mouth of Kate Murphy set firmly, her blue eyes burning.

"It's not sthrong Oi am on advisin'," she said, shortly, "but if it
was me Oi'd be fer foindin' out what all this mix-up was about. There's
somethin' moighty quare in it. It's my notion that Hawley's got hold av
thim papers av yer father's. The owld gint thinks so, too, an' that's
why he's so hot afther catchin' him. May the divil admoire me av Oi know
where this Maclaire gyurl comes in, but Oi'll bet the black divil has
get her marked fer some part in the play. What would Oi do? Be goory,
Oi'd go to Sheridan, an' foind the Gineral, an' till him all I knew.
Maybe he could piece it together, an' guess what Hawley was up ter."

Hope was already upon her feet, her puzzled face brightening.

"Oh, that is what I wanted to do, but I was not sure it would be best.
How can I get there from here?"

"Ye'd have ter take the stage back to Topeky; loikely they'd be runnin'
thrains out from there on the new road. It'll be aisy fer me ter foind
out from some av the lads down below."

The only equipment operating into Sheridan was a construction train,
with an old battered passenger coach coupled to the rear. A squad of
heavily armed infantrymen rode along, as protection against possible
Indian raiders, but there was no crowd aboard on this special trip, as
all construction work had been suspended on the line indefinitely, and
most of the travel, therefore, had changed to the eastward. The coach
used had a partition run through it, and, as soon as the busy trainmen
discovered ladies on board, they unceremoniously drove the more bibulous
passengers, protesting, into the forward compartment. This left Hope in
comparative peace, her remaining neighbors quiet, taciturn men, whom
she looked at through the folds of her veil during the long, slow,
exasperating journey, mentally guessing at their various occupations.
It was an exceedingly tedious, monotonous trip, the train slackening
up, and jerking forward, apparently without slightest reason; then
occasionally achieving a full stop, while men, always under guard, went
ahead to fix up some bit of damaged track, across which the engineer
dared not advance. At each bridge spanning the numerous small streams,
trainmen examined the structure before venturing forward,