partly through the courage and quick
action of the boys of the town, but mainly through the mercy of
Omnipotent God, who sent the floods to keep back the forces of Satan.
That Marjory escaped even in the midst of it all is due to the
shrewdness and sacrifice of the young man you have been trying to
defraud--O'mie.

"In the midst of this you connived with others to steal the records from
the courthouse. You were a treble villain, for you set the Rev. Mr.
Dodd to a deed you afterwards held over him as a threat and drove him
from the town for fear of exposure, forcing him to give you the papers
he held against Jean Le Claire's claims to the half-section on the
Neosho. Not that his going was any loss to Springvale. But Dodd will
never trouble you again. He cast his lot with the Dog Indians of the
plains, and one of them used him for a shield in Custer's battle with
Black Kettle's band last December. He had not even Indian burial.

"Those deeds against Springvale belong to the days of the Civil War, but
your record since proves that the man who planned them cannot be trusted
as a safe citizen in times of peace. Into your civil office you carried
your war-time methods, until the Postmaster-General cannot deal longer
with you. Your term of office expires in six days. Your successor's
commission is already on its way here. This much was accomplished in the
trip East last Fall." My father spoke significantly.

"It wasn't all that was accomplished, by Heaven! There's a lawsuit
coming; there's a will that's to be broken that can't stand when I get
at it. You are mighty good and fine about money when other folks are
getting it; but when it's coming to you, you're another man." Tell's
voice was pitched high now.

"Father Le Claire, let me tell you a story. Baronet's a smooth rascal
and nobody can find him out easily. But I know him. He has called me a
thief. It takes that kind to catch a thief, maybe. Anyhow, back at
Rockport the Baronets were friends of the Melrose family. One of them,
Ferdinand, was drowned at sea. He had some foolish delusion or other in
his head, for he left a will bequeathing all his property to his brother
James Melrose during his lifetime. At his death all Ferdinand's money
was to go to John Baronet in trust for his son Phil. Baronet, here, sent
his boy back East to school in hopes that Phil would marry Rachel
Melrose, James's daughter, and so get the fortune of both Ferdinand and
James Melrose. He went