“And you were sent with a letter for Bonnie Belle?” “I was, sir, and upon reaching Pocket City, and learning that she had gone East by coach, I came on after her.” “Who is this letter from?” “I do not know, sir; but it was given to me by an officer at the fort, with orders to place it in the hands of Miss Bonnie Belle with the greatest despatch.” “Give me the letter,” and Bonnie Belle held out her hand, which trembled as she read the address and seemed to recognize the writing. “It is from----” and she said no more. But Deadshot Dean recognized by her look of significance that she could only mean her brother, then a condemned prisoner at the fort. She nerved herself to break the seal, and asked: “Is there an answer?” “I was told that there was, miss.” At this the miner stepped out of the coach, and left her to read the letter alone, for he saw that she was deeply affected. While the miner, the courier, and the stage-coach driver were talking together, she read the letter. It was written in cipher, and she said: “It is the alphabet which my poor brother taught me to write when I was a very little girl. He felt that I would remember it, and has written something he dared not let any other eye see, I suppose. Oh, if it should be an appeal to me to save him!” She dashed the tears from her eyes, and nerved herself to read the letter which she seemed to dread so much. It was as follows: “MY DARLING SISTER: Do you remember away back when you were a little girl of ten, and I was dismissed from the navy, that you said, when father and mother were cold toward me, that you would never desert me? “Do you recall again, when I came home from Germany, dismissed from the university on account of the fatal duel I fought, you again were my little comforter? “So it has been through all, even when, maddened with jealousy, I sought the life of Carrol Dean, and, to escape, took my father’s money, you were the one to aid me secretly with funds and to cheer me with your loving letters. “Every pledge I have made you I have ruthlessly broken, and I feel that you have utterly lost confidence in me. “I have a friend in the fort who gets a messenger to carry this letter to you, and it is my last appeal, for through Carrol Dean you have heard that I am under sentence to die upon the gallows. “Now I see my crimes in all their enormity, and I am not fit to die. I have repented, yet I would live to atone by good deeds for all the wicked ones I have been guilty of, and hence this my last sad appeal to you, my loving, faithful sister. “Whatever you attempt to do, you can, I know, and I ask you to set me free, that henceforth, far from these scenes, I may live a better life and atone for the past. “Do I appeal in vain, my sister? If not, send word by the messenger, simply: “‘I will.’ “If in vain, send simply: “I will not.’ “Feeling that I do not appeal in vain, believe me your unhappy brother,