ll confess it,
since it is well that you should know with whom you have to deal. When I
say that I am Jerry Lane, you will understand that I mean business."

"I do," answered Melville, quietly.

"You know me by reputation?" said the outlaw, with a curious pride in
his unenviable notoriety.

"I do."

"What do men say of me?"

"That you are at the head of a gang of reckless assassins and
outlaws, and that you have been implicated in scores of robberies and
atrocities."

This was not so satisfactory.

"Young man," said Lane--to drop his false name--"I advise you to be
careful how you talk. It may be the worse for you. Now, to come to
business, how much money have you in the house?"

"Why do you ask, and by what right?"

"We propose to take it. Now answer my question."

"Gentlemen, you will be very poorly paid for the trouble you have taken
in visiting me. I have very little money."

"Of course, you say so. We want an answer."

"As well as I can remember I have between forty and fifty dollars in my
pocketbook."

Brown uttered an oath under his breath, and Lane looked uneasy.

"That's a lie!" said Brown, speaking first. "We were told you had five
thousand dollars here."

"Your informant was badly mistaken, then. I am not very wise, perhaps,
in worldly matters, but I certainly am not such a fool as to keep so
large a sum of money in a lonely cabin like this."

"Perhaps not so much as that," returned Lane. "I don't pretend to say
how much you have. That is for you to tell us."

George Melville drew from his pocket a wallet, and passed it to the
outlaw.

"Count the money for yourself, if you wish," he said. "You can verify my
statement."

Lane opened the wallet with avidity, and drew out the contents. It was
apparent at the first glance that the sum it contained was small. It was
counted, however, and proved to amount to forty-seven dollars and a few
silver coins.

The two robbers looked at each other in dismay. Was it possible that
this was all? If so, they would certainly be very poorly paid for their
trouble.

"Do you expect us to believe, Mr. Melville," said Jerry Lane, sternly,
"that this is all the money you have?"

"In this cabin--yes."

"We are not so easily fooled. It is probably all you carry about with
you; but you have more concealed somewhere about the premises. It will
be best for you to produce at once, unless you are ready to pass in your
checks."

"That means," said Melville,