nd, at his head. Upon the bed,
weeping and moaning piteously, lay the woman, her face buried in the
pillow. I went to her and put a hand upon her arm; she lifted toward
me the most woeful face it has ever been my lot to see, and said, with
mournful apathy:

'Don't fear--I don't want to escape! I knew the end must be near.' And
she dropped back with an air of utter exhaustion upon her pillow.

I turned to assist Jeffrys in securing Greenback Bob, who, now that
his pretence of stolid apathy had failed him, was an ugly customer to
deal with, and who was resisting with all his strength and filling the
air with blasphemy. It was necessary to secure him hand and foot, and
we had but just completed the task when Dave came bounding up the
stairs.

'Eureka!' he cried. 'It's a complete catch; and Trent's alive, and the
happiest man in Chicago, or the world. Hello!'

He had glanced at the prostrate counterfeiter, and his last
exclamation was in answer to a voice from the room where I had left
Lossing guarding the senseless Delbras.

Following Dave's significant gesture, I went with him to the door of
the room, where, to my surprise, Delbras, his face quite bloodless
with rage and weakness together, was slowly dressing himself under the
sternly watchful eye and steadily aimed pistol of Sir Carroll Rae.

The latter had gathered the garments together while Delbras lay
unconscious, keeping a watchful eye and ready weapon the while, and
had placed them close at his side, first removing from a pocket a
small sheathed knife. And now, with his own weapon in hand and those
of Delbras collected on the table at his side, he was compelling the
Frenchman to make his toilet at the point of the pistol, and his set
face left in the mind of the enraged and baffled rascal no room to
doubt him when he said:

'Unless you have put on those garments within a reasonable time I will
call a pair of policemen to dress you; and if you make one sound or
movement other than in obedience I will shoot every bullet in this
weapon into your body, and do it with pleasure.'

'How was it?' I asked Dave while this toilet was proceeding, and we
stood ready for the trick or attempt at resistance we more than half
expected from the Frenchman.

'I guess you heard it about all. Trent lay there wide awake, mighty
blue, and too weak to lift his head; and a big negress was half-dozing
in her chair by the bedside, with a pistol at her elbow. She made a
grab for it