you did her in that life long since passed away?” I did not understand, yet I prayed to be allowed to live, that I might be better and wiser. And I was born again. Fortune favored me from my birth. I was born to wealth, and the faculty I have of acquiring it is a wonder to many. I am now twenty-eight years old, the same age I was when I performed the feat in cattle-plunging. I bring you this photograph with the strange feeling that to you it belongs, and when it is securely in your hands, the dreadful nightmare the sight of it gives me, will leave me. This town has a fascination for me, of which I cannot get rid. I feel nervous, as I did one hundred and fifty years ago, when I was here a refugee, whenever I see an armed officer of the law, or a strange face that gives me more than a passing glance. Retribution, you say, is going to overtake me. If the law can get me, handle me; but to use a slang phrase of the nineteenth century, I will close by saying: “Catch me if you can; but I think I am too _swift_ for you in this life, as well as I was then.” “‘I am, your obedient servant, “‘THE PLUNGER FROM KANSAS.’” CHAPTER IX. MARRIET REPORTS HERSELF DEAD. The Governor heaved a sigh when he had finished, as if a burden had suddenly dropped from his shoulders. “How long since he gave this to you, Juan?” “About fifteen minutes before I entered this room, your Honor.” “Did it take you fifteen minutes to get up the stairs?” “I am an old man, your Honor, but am yet spry. When the Plunger left, I was called to your private study, where Señor Guillermo Gonzales wished to speak to me. If your Honor cares, I will tell you everything he said. First, he sent a message to you, which I have not had an opportunity until this moment to deliver. He told me to say to you, that though the President has returned to consciousness he desires to be left alone that he may write a full account of his past, provided he _remembers_.” “Very well, Juan,” replied the Governor. “I will not interrupt his Excellency. And as for you telling me _all_ the scientist said to you, there is no necessity for you telling anything, except the message you have just delivered.” “Since the ‘Plunger’ came, I feel it my duty to tell you that Señor Gonzales cautioned me to guard you closely; to allow no one to pass into the house without you knowing the person and giving your consent. That trouble is brewing in the city, and your life would be threatened,” said Juan. “It is certainly kind of him and others to be so interested in my welfare. I am least concerned about my own safety. I have a strange presentiment that I will not be harmed. It is the safety of the people, the great multitude around us, Juan, about whom I am concerned. Rest assured, good man, I will protect my people, no matter what the cost.”