ldn't tell
me what it was about. What's happened?"

"We've met with a disappointment--that's what's the matter."

"Did the passengers get the better of you?" asked the woman, for she was
in her husband's guilty secrets, and knew quite well what manner of man
she had married.

"They found out our little game," answered Warner, shortly, for he did
not see any advantage in wasting words on his confederate's wife. "Which
way did Brown go?"

"Yonder," answered Mrs. Brown, pointing in a particular direction.

Col. Warner tied his horse to a small sapling, and walked in the
direction indicated.

He found the landlord sullenly reclining beneath a large tree.

"So you're back?" he said, surveying Warner with a lowering brow.

"Yes."

"And a pretty mess you've made of the job!" said the landlord, bitterly.

"It's as much your fault--nay, more!" said his superior, coolly.

"What do you mean?" demanded Brown, not over cordially.

"You would persist in discussing our plan last night in my room, though
I warned you we might be overheard."

"Well?"

"We were overheard."

"What spy listened to our talk?"

"The young man, Melville--the one traveling with a boy. He kept it to
himself till the stage was well on its way, and then he blabbed the
whole thing to all in the stage."

"Did he mention you?"

"Yes, and you."

"Why didn't you tell him he lied, and shoot him on the spot?"

"Because I shouldn't have survived him five minutes," answered the
colonel, coolly, "or, if I had, his companions would have lynched me."

Brown didn't look as if he would have been inconsolable had this
occurred. In fact, he was ambitious to succeed to the place held by the
colonel, as chief of a desperate gang of outlaws.

"I might have been dangling from a branch of a tree at this moment, had
I followed your plan, my good friend Brown, and that would have been
particularly uncomfortable."

"They might have shot me," said Brown, sullenly.

"I prevented that, and gave you timely warning. Of course it's a
disappointment, but we shall have better luck next time."

"They've got away."

"Yes, but I propose to keep track of Melville and the boy, and have my
revenge upon them in time. I don't care so much about the money, but
they have foiled me, and they must suffer for it. Meanwhile, I want your
help in another plan."

The two conferred together, and mutual confidence was re-established.

CHAPTER XXIX. A NEW HOME IN THE WOOD