lly little breakfast. He
told me at length the part he and the Britishers had borne, and only
made me marvel the more that any one of them was alive, for apparently
they had jumped off the car without the slightest precaution, and
had stood grouped together, even after they had called attention to
themselves by Lord Ralles's shots. Cullen had to confess that he heard
the whistle of the four bullets unpleasantly close.

"You have a right to be proud, Mr. Cullen," I said. "You fellows did
a tremendously pluckly thing, and, thanks to you, we didn't lose
anything."

"But you went to help too, Mr. Gordon," added Miss Cullen.

That made me color up, and, after a moment's hesitation, I said--

"I'm not going to sail under false colors, Miss Cullen. When I went
forward I didn't think I could do anything. I supposed whoever had
pitched into the robbers was dead, and I expected to be the same
inside of ten minutes."

"Then why did you risk your life," she asked, "if you thought it was
useless?"

I laughed, and, though ashamed to tell it, replied, "I didn't want you
to think that the Britishers had more pluck than I had."

She took my confession better than I hoped she would, laughing with
me, and then said, "Well, that was courageous, after all."

"Yes," I confessed, "I was frightened into bravery."

"Perhaps if they had known the danger as well as you, they would have
been less courageous," she continued; and I could have blessed her for
the speech.

While we were still eating, the mail clerk came to my car and reported
that the most careful search had failed to discover the three
registered letters, and they had evidently been taken. This made me
feel sober, slight as the probable loss was. He told me that his
list showed they were all addressed to Ash Fork, Arizona, making
it improbable that their contents could be of any real value. If
possible, I was more puzzled than ever.

At six-ten the runner whistled to show he had steam up. I told one of
the brakemen to stay behind, and then went into 218. Mr. Cullen was
still dressing, but I expressed my regrets through the door that I
could not go with his party to the Grand Canon, told him that all the
stage arrangements had been completed, and promised to join him there
in case my luck was good. Then I saw Frederic for a moment, to see how
he was (for I had nearly forgotten him in the excitement), to find
that he was gaining all the time, and preparing even to get up.