"No. Where are you travelling from?" "Why, Lord, I've come all the way from the Noderway. The infernal thieves are just usin' us up that way. I wish I'd come on the infernal son of a seacook whose taken my hosses. I do, you bet, I'd go fur him with these 'ere irons. I would that!" And Jesse revealed his "weepons" as he called them. "Did you see anybody on the road ahead?" "Not for sum miles. I met four ugly lookin' customers this mornin'. They looked like they might 'a been hoss-thieves theirselves. D--n the hoss-thieves!" "Thieves are plenty now-a-days. They come into towns and break banks in open daylight. How far did you say the four men were ahead?" "Well, I didn't say, but it must be more'n two hours since I met 'em, an' they were a ridin' purty fast, an' I've rid my hoss almost down, as you can see." "What kind of looking men were they?" asked the robber hunters. "Well, one was a sizable man, with long, red beard, an' a flopped black hat on, aridin' on a big chesnut sorrel hoss, an' one more was a smallish man, with very black hair and beard, and sharp black eyes, an' he was a ridin' on a roan hoss, an' another was an oldish man, with some gray among his beard, an' he wore a blue huntin' shirt coat, an' he was a ridin' a gray hoss, and the last feller was a little weazle-faced chap, with tallowy complexion, who didn't ware no beard, an' he rode on a dark brown hoss." The two robber hunters then consulted together. "That's their description," said one. "Precisely," said the other. "Shall we follow?" asked one. "I would like to," replied the other. "But there are four of them," was the remark in rejoinder. "Yes that is bad. If Ed, Dick and Will would just hurry up. Those fellows are no doubt very dangerous men," was the comment of one. "You bet they are," was the response. All this time Jesse had listened as an interested party. Now he thought he was privileged to make an inquiry. "What's up, strangers, anyhow?" Jesse asked. "You blow it! Don't you know that the Corydon bank, up in Iowa, was robbed yesterday." Jesse opened his eyes in well-feigned surprise. "You don't say so!" he ejaculated. "Yes, in broad daylight, and the men you met are the robbers, no doubt. There's a big reward offered to catch them." "What's this country a comin' to, anyhow? Hoss thieves down on the Noderway, an' bank rogues up to Iowa. 'Pears like hard workin' honest folks can't get along much more." "Could you go back with us?" "I'd like to, but the cussed hoss thieves will get away. Besides, you see, my hoss is mighty nigh played out hisself. Howsumever, I might ride with you as fur as I can. D--n all thieves, say I, don't you?" And Jesse actually turned around with the two pursuers of the robbers, in pursuit of another posse of pursuers which Jesse had been enabled to accurately describe by having seen them pass him while lying snug in a dense thicket.