t succeed for a full minute; he was dumb with excitement.

"That's him!" he managed to gasp. "The feller I saw the other day--the
man on horseback!"

"That?" cried Bonner, laughing heartily. "Why, that is John E. Barnes,
the lawyer and probably a United States Senator some day. Good heavens,
Mr. Crow, you've made a bad guess of it this time! He is staying with
Judge Brewster, his father-in-law."

"What! Well, by Geminy! I thought I knowed him," cried Anderson. "They
cain't fool me long, Wick--none of 'em. He's the same feller 'at run
away with Judge Brewster's daughter more'n twenty year ago. 'y Gosh, I
was standin' right on this very spot the first time I ever see him. He
sold me a hoss and buggy--but I got the money back. I arrested him the
same day."

"Arrested John Barnes?" in amazement.

"Yep--fer murder--only he wasn't the murderer. We follered him down the
river--him an' the girl--to Bracken's place, but they were married afore
we got there. Doggone, that was a busy day! Some blamed good detective
work was did, too. I--"

"And Mr. Barnes was interested in Rosalie?" asked Bonner suddenly. "How
could he have known anything about her?"

"That's what puzzles me. She came here about two years after the
elopement more er less, but I don't remember ever seein' him after that
time."

"It's very strange, Mr. Crow," reflected Bonner soberly. "He has a son,
I know. His wife died a year or so after the boy's birth. Young Barnes
is about twenty-one, I think at this time. By George! I've heard it said
that Barnes and his wife were not hitting it off very well. They say she
died of a broken heart. I've heard mother speak of it often. I
wonder--great heavens, it isn't possible that Rosalie can be
connected in any way with John Barnes? Anderson Crow, I--I wonder if
there is a possibility?" Bonner was quivering with excitement,
wonder--and--unbelief.

"I'm workin' on that clew," said Anderson as calmly as his tremors would
permit. He was thrilled by the mere suggestion, but it was second nature
for him to act as if every discovery were his own. "Ever sence I saw him
on the road up there, I've been trackin' him. I tell you, Wick, he's my
man. I've got it almost worked out. Just as soon as these blamed robbers
are moved to Boggs City, er buried, I'm goin' over an' git the truth out
of Mr. Barnes. I've been huntin' him fer twenty-one years." Anderson, of
course, was forgetting that Barnes had slipped from his mind complete