"Please do not think we suppose you have taken the letters knowingly, but we suppose that in some way you have lost them. Of course you are not directly to blame in that case, though it does look bad for you, particularly as you have denied it so stoutly. If you will candidly acknowledge that this is the case, we will let the affair drop here, save to explain that you have not been in any way to blame." Little Snap had listened to this speech without any interruption, and at its close he said: "Mr. Jones, it is evident that you think I am either a fool or a thief. I have told all I have to say in regard to the matter. Before you come to me please investigate your post offices. I——" "So you call Mr. Rimmon a robber of the United States mail? It is a bold utterance, for even a rash-headed youth to make, and I can promise you it shall be taken for all it is worth. Good-day." "Perhaps I was too outspoken with him," said the postboy to his mother, when he had explained the object of the other's visit, "but I could not help it. That man is one of those who is at the bottom of my troubles, and he it is who has caused Mr. Warfield to do as he has." The afternoon of the following day, as he had heard nothing definite concerning the progress made in repairing the road, Little Snap called at the post office, to find the place literally surrounded by loafers and men engaged in discussing politics and the prospects of who was to carry the mail on the Kanawha route. "I tell you that young Lewis isn't going," some one in the background was saying, as Little Snap entered the building. "I hear Mr. Warfield is going to fix up the matter in the way it should be." "Well, here comes Mr. Warfield to speak for himself," said another, and our hero was somewhat surprised to see the politician appear upon the scene. "It looks as though the road would be clear for you to-morrow," said Mr. Rimmon. Then noticing Mr. Warfield, he added: "Glad to see you here, colonel. I wish you would step inside here, as I have something of importance to say to you." "Have my letters been found, Mr. Rimmon?" "I regret to say——" "Yes, they have been found!" broke in Meiggs, in the midst of Mr. Rimmon's words. "Here they are!" holding up one hand, in which were clasped three or four badly soiled and abused letters. "I found them in an old stump between Hollow Tree and Greenbrier," continued the speaker, while great excitement instantly began to come over the crowd. "They have been opened, and I found with them a letter belonging to Dix Lewis!" CHAPTER XXIV. DRIVEN TO THE WALL. The excitement following Morton Meiggs' announcement of the finding of the lost registered letters, and the sight of them in his hand, was so great that Mr. Rimmon attempted to speak several times before he could make himself heard.