Vance added a postscript to his letter, setting forth the facts as he had found them, and then forwarded it by registered mail, as usual. “I suppose Guy Dudley is watching for the train to deposit me in Elevatorville this evening,” he grinned as he sat on the hotel veranda after supper. “Gee! It was a lucky thought of mine not to go to the hotel last night. Had I done so my name would probably have been mud, so far as finding out what I came for, and then I should never have found out those other little matters. It’s better to be born lucky than rich.” Next morning Vance left for a railway junction town in Missouri, the last point he had on his list. It is unnecessary to go into the particulars of his business at this place. It is enough to say that it had a direct bearing on his employer’s plans, and the boy managed to obtain all the necessary information to be got. “Now for Chicago and home,” said Vance, in a happy frame of mind, after he had boiled down his statistics in a succinct letter to Mr. Whitemore and sent it off. The boy uttered these words as he was coming out of the postoffice, which was located on the corner of two streets. Immediately preceding him was a tall and commanding man, with a swarthy complexion and black eyes. Vance had noticed him inside posting a letter. He wore a soft felt hat of generous proportions, and his manner was the free and easy way of the wide west. The boy stopped and watched him with some curiosity as he started to cross the street. At that moment a noisy racket arose around the corner, and there suddenly came into view a team of horses attached to a heavy wagon of produce. Evidently the animals were frightened, and were dashing about in a blind, purposeless race. The stranger was right in their path, and seeing his peril, he sprang back. But in some unaccountable way he missed his footing, slipped and fell upon the roadway. A dozen or more people besides Vance noticed his mishap, but only the boy seemed to have presence of mind enough to take any action. The frenzied horses were almost upon the fallen man when Vance, darting out from the sidewalk, seized the near animal by the bridle-rein, as well as getting a secure grip on the harness with the other hand, and succeeded in slightly veering the team out of its course. Off course he was instantly carried off his feet and placed in an exceedingly dangerous situation, but he had accomplished his object. The wheels of the heavy wagon barely grazed the stranger’s head as it flew by, but he was saved--saved by Vance’s remarkable nerve and quick movements. The runaways, handicapped by his weight, and headed off by several men who now jumped into the roadway and waved their coats and hats, lost their speed and were presently brought to a standstill.