"I don't believe we'll go any farther," declared Jesse, calling a halt on the outskirts of the village. "No one will interfere with you now and if any body should, you can say you're guests of Mrs. Jarvis out for an early ride. Tim knows how to work the bluff. I think you'd best get back to Kearney this morning, boy. You can explain to mother about Sue's trip to Monegaw Springs and tell her that it's all right for I've given my consent. When you've eased her mind, you come back here. Oh, you might tell her I'm going on a business trip to Ste. Genevieve and that I'll run in to see her on my way back. Say that Frank and Texas have gone north on a surveying expedition to be gone several weeks. If she, or any of you, have anything important to communicate to me, you can meet me in the old wood-chopper's camp at Sni Mills in five weeks. "Take care of yourselves, now." And touching his lips to his sister's forehead, the dare-devil bandit turned, caught Marjorie around the waist and planted a resounding smack on her luscious mouth, repeated the salute on Helen and cantered away, laughing gaily, before the blushing girls could remonstrate. The deviation from his course across the state, necessitated by the escorting of his sister and friends to their destination, was little to the taste of the world-famous desperado, though he concealed his feelings from Susie and the girls. But once clear of them, he rode like mad to recover the lost ground. His hope of success in looting the bank lay in striking before the man-hunters should discover that he had left the region of Monegaw Springs and in his race against time, every hour was precious. Keeping to the highway till it grew so light they feared discovery, the outlaws finally rode into the woods and when they reached a well-sheltered ravine, dismounted to rest their horses. Though Cole and Jesse had left their false beards in the little ham-chamber in the chimney of the Prior house, where they had suffered such agony, they still wore their business suits they had donned in McAlester, in the Indian Territory, before going to the Springs. John and Jim, however, were clad in the cowboy garb the bandits affected. "Wouldn't it be best for us to shift back into our 'Wild West' togs?" suggested the eldest of the Younger brothers as he noted the incongruity in the appearance of the company. "If anybody should see us, they'd sure be likely to notice us with two of us all rigged out to kill and the others not." "I reckon it would be a good idea," returned his chief. "The people at the farmhouse didn't seem to notice that our faces were smooth, at least they didn't raise any yell about it, and they probably would have if they'd caught on to the fact, so we'll have a better chance of getting by in our usual costume." Little time did it take the bandits to change but they carefully folded the suits they took off and put them into their saddle bags for future emergencies.