y to make a tour over the road, and
through the hamlets in which they were harbored within the circuit of
ten or twenty miles, and as they kept usually with rigid punctuality to
their several stations, they were soon apprized, and off at the first
signal. A whisper in the ear of the hostler who brought out your horse,
or the drover who put up the cattle, was enough; and the absence of a
colt from pasture, or the missing of a stray young heifer from the
flock, furnished a sufficient reason to the proprietor for the
occasional absence of Tom, Dick, or Harry: who, in the meanwhile, was,
most probably, crying "stand" to a true man, or cutting a trunk from a
sulkey, or, in mere wantonness, shooting down the traveller who had
perhaps given him a long chase, yet yielded nothing by way of
compensation for the labor.

Dillon, or, to speak more to the card, Lieutenant Dillon, arrived at the
place of assemblage just as the day was breaking. He was a leader of
considerable influence among the outlaws, and, next to Rivers, was most
popular. Indeed, in certain respects, he was far more popular; for,
though perhaps not so adroit in his profession, nor so well fitted for
its command, he was possessed of many of those qualities which are apt
to be taking with "the fierce democratic!" He was a prince of hail
fellows--was thoroughly versed in low jest and scurvy anecdote--could
play at pushpins, and drink at every point in the game; and, strange to
say, though always drinking, was never drunk. Nor, though thus
accomplished, and thus prone to these accomplishments, did he ever
neglect those duties which he assumed to perform. No indulgence led him
away from his post, and, on the other hand, no post compelled or
constrained him into gravity. He was a careless, reckless blade,
indifferent alike, it would seem, to sun and storm--and making of life a
circle, that would not inaptly have illustrated the favorite text of
Sardanapalus.

He arrived at the cave, as we have said just as the day was breaking. A
shrill whistle along the ridges of wood and rock as he passed them,
denoted the various stations of the sentinels, as studiously strewed
along the paths by which their place of refuge might be assailed, as if
they were already beleaguered by an assailing army. Without pausing to
listen to the various speeches and inquiries which assailed his ears
upon his arrival he advanced to the cavern, and was told that the
captain had been for some time