"I will look after the bonds on your mail contract, Lewis, and to give Claverton and his backers no opportunity to make a fuss, I will see that the proper bail is secured for you. To-morrow I will go to Salt Works with you, and stay there to come home with you. I do not believe you will have any farther trouble. I must go to Washington on the next day. Be sure and keep your eyes and ears open, and at the least suspicion of interference let me know. Mr. Rimmon will also be on the watch for you." "You needn't be afraid but Warfield will stand by you after this, for he knows his chances of getting into Congress depend too much on what I do for him to act differently." Having reached this decision, the plan was carried out as rapidly as possible, and with complete success, so the following morning Little Snap was promptly on hand for the mail pouch. So was Dan Shag, and in his disappointment, he exclaimed: "The day o' reckonin' ain't fur off, Dix Lewis, so carry a high hand while ye can." As he had promised, Mr. Calvert accompanied the postboy on his trip as far as Salt Works and return, though nothing occurred to hint of any further trouble. The following day the contractor left for Washington, while Little Snap started on his daily route alone. Naturally, he never rode through the Wash Bowl and along the Narrows without recalling his startling experiences there and looking sharply about him. Thus an uneventful week passed, until one afternoon, after having met and passed Old Solitaire at his lonely vigil, he was suddenly made aware that his battle was not over. Descending into the Bowl with his usual caution, he was passing a particularly lonely place in the road, where an overhanging rock nearly touched his head as he rode along, when his attention was attracted by a shrill cry off to his right and lower down the basin. Turning for a moment to look in that direction, he was just in season to catch a glimpse of the mail pouch as it was being whisked out of sight over his head! Stopping Jack with a sudden jerk of the rein, it was fully a minute before the surprised postboy could comprehend what had taken place. CHAPTER XXVI. A LIFE FOR A LIFE. Little Snap, it is safe to say, was never more thoroughly surprised in his life. In the brief glance he had obtained of the disappearing mail pouch, he had also seen that it had been snatched from its resting place by a pole, with a hook attached at the end, in the hands of a man concealed behind the bowlder. Then a movement among the rocks on the side of the mountain told him that the audacious thief was making off with his booty. Without stopping to count the cost of the hopelessness of pursuit, the postboy rose in his seat to an upright position, when he found he could grasp a clump of stunted bushes growing on the side of the ledge and high enough to enable him to gain the summit of the rock.