dn't put on false whiskers to look like you and if I hadn't
fixed myself up to resemble Frank," spoke up one of the men, "we
wouldn't have no Wright after us. But seeing us on your horses increased
the deception so that we had no trouble about the matter. You should
have seen how disgusted they were when they discovered how we fooled
them."

"No doubt," said Frank, with a grim smile.

"What are you going to do about the hold-up to-night, Jesse?" asked Jim
Cummins impatiently. "We've arranged to meet here and settle the whole
matter and not gab about things of no interest to the case."

"There's plenty time," quietly replied the bandit king.

Jack squeezed Timberlake's arm.

"They're going to lay a plot!" he whispered.

"We'll hear the whole thing," replied the sheriff.

"Perhaps we can baffle them."

"Yes, if they give themselves away."

"Then we can't attack them now."

"Not if they have got work in view. If we should tackle them now we
might not fustrate any game they might play when they get away. We can't
expect to scoop the whole gang you know. Some would be bound to escape."

"Well, we'll hear what they have to say anyhow."

"Of coarse. We can grade ourselves according to circumstances
afterward," whispered Timberlake cautiously.

The gang had been drawning closer around Jesse.

When they were close enough, the bandit rose, and said:

"Boys, we've got a big haul in view for to-night."

"What is it, anyway?" demanded Miller.

"An express package on the M. & M. road, which will go through on the
midnight express, it's worth $10,000."

Whistles and exclamations of surprise and delight escaped the gang.

This was something unusually rich.

Besides they were all pretty hard up.

"Let's hear about it," said Cole Younger.

"Well, I was in Kansas City and there learned that the Fourth National
Bank sends a keg of $10,000 in gold coin on the tenth of each month, to
the banking firm of Bradford & Co., in Springfield, Illinois. That train
will reach a point between Polo and Cowgill, according to the
timetable, shortly after midnight. As it is the only train which carries
an express car bound for Springfield, it must be the one we are after."

"That's fair to presume," said Frank.

"We had better stop it and see!" Jesse exclaimed. "We can hold it up at
the curve, and as there's a dense mass of bushes on each side of the
track, you all can conceal yourselves there until I get the cars
stopped. The