of all and make for his ranch at
Redmans, or maybe for Penticton and down over the Line. When you guys
fooled him, he came up over here, meaning to beat it back Vernock way,
down Kickwillie Loop, I guess, on to the shore road at the head of the
Lake and out the Coldcreek to the foot-hills, and over to the Other
Side that way.

"If he had ever gotten a head start, we'd never have seen skin or hair
of him."

"But why didn't he? Wasn't you ginks chasin' him to Kelowna?"

"Sure!--but weren't we between him and the road he wanted to get
onto,--simp?"

McConnachie let the sense of it sink, but it seemed to take a long
time.

When the procession reached the awakening town he remarked, "I see
now! You guys blocked him same as we did at the Landing."

"Just exactly!" remarked Jim. "We all saw it two hours ago." As for
Howden, he was past remarking anything.

The news of the robbery, of the escape of all but one, and of the
dead-capture--and the climax in regard to the identity of that dead
robber--caused a tremendous sensation throughout the Valley. It was
the talk of the entire country for very many days to follow. A number
of respectable citizens, of course, were shocked beyond words; others
shook their heads and said it was just what they had expected. But the
great fact remained:--Graham Brenchfield, several times Mayor of
Vernock, Rancher, Cattle breeder, Wholesale Produce Dealer and
Political Boss had been caught red-handed in the biggest bank robbery
the Province had ever known.

CHAPTER XXVI

The Dawn of a New Day

Phil was busily engaged going over the day's mail early one afternoon,
on a sweltering day in the month of August of that same eventful year,
when his attention was drawn to an envelope addressed to himself and
bearing the Government imprint.

He opened it and read the contents of the letter slowly. He laughed
softly in the gurgling, boyish way he used to laugh years before. That
letter awakened something in him that seemed to have been asleep. And
it gave him an irresponsibly happy sort of feeling.

He read the letter over again. It was perfectly plain:

Mr. Philip Ralston,
Vernock, B. C.

_Dear Sir_,

Among the papers left by the late Graham Brenchfield, late Mayor of
Vernock, was one addressed to The Attorney General, in which he
confessed to being the sole culprit in the assault on the bank
official and