at
curious furtive glance of his. But for that O'Connor would never have
known the two to be the same.

Bucky was at the telephone half an hour. In the middle of the next
afternoon his reward came in the form of a Western Union billet. It
read:

"Eastern man says you don't want what is salable here."

The lieutenant cut out every other word and garnered the wheat of the
message:

"Man you want is here."

The telegram was marked from Epitaph, and for that town the ranger and
the sheriff entrained immediately.

Bucky's eye searched in vain the platform of the Epitaph depot for
Malloy, of the Rangers, whose wire had brought him here. The cause
of the latter's absence was soon made clear to him in a note he found
waiting for him at the hotel:

"The old man has just sent me out on hurry-up orders. Don't know when
I'll get back. Suggest you take in the show at the opera house to-night
to pass the time."

It was the last sentence that caught Bucky's attention. Jim Malloy had
not written it except for a reason. Wherefore the lieutenant purchased
two tickets for the performance far back in the house. From the local
newspaper he gathered that the showman was henceforth to be a resident
of Epitaph. Mr. Jay Hardman, or Signor Raffaello Cavellado, as he was
known the world over by countless thousands whom he had entertained, had
purchased a corral and livery stable at the corner of Main and Boothill
Streets and solicited the patronage of the citizens of Hualpai County.
That was the purport of the announcement which Bucky ringed with a
pencil and handed to his friend.

That evening Signor Raffaello Cavellado made a great hit with his
audience. He swaggered through his act magnificently, and held his
spectators breathless. Bucky took care to see that a post and the
sheriff's big body obscured him from view during the performance.

After it was over O'Connor and the sheriff returned to the hotel, where
also Hardman was for the present staying, and sent word up to his
room that one of the audience who had admired very much the artistic
performance would like the pleasure of drinking a glass of wine with
Signor Cavellado if the latter would favor him with his company in room
seven. The Signor was graciously pleased to accept, and followed his
message of acceptance in person a few minutes later.

Bucky remained quietly in the corner of the room back of the door until
the showman had entered, and while the latter was meeting