The lad had been hurrying out with a message to Heaton's flouring mills, and he bounced up the stairs of the telegraph office, three at a time, and flew into the room where the hard-worked operator was rattling at the instrument. A swift look from Mike took in the whole situation. Henry Jackson was seated on a bench in a corner of the office, with his back to the door, puzzling over a little book and a telegraphic despatch. He inspected the pages of the book, then scanned the message, and then, licking the end of a lead-pencil, wrote something on the paper containing the despatch. "Here, hurry with this message, Mike," said the lady in the office, "and be quick about it; you are always loitering about the corner when you are wanted." Almost wild at being sent out before he could get an opportunity to extract a bit of news from Hank Jackson, Mike flew out on his errand, astonished the receiver of the message by telling him to hurry up with his signature, and then went back to the office on the wings of the wind. Alas! when Mike re-entered the room, breathless and hot, Hank had departed without leaving any trace of the quality of the news that he might have received. No, not quite so bad as that, thought Mike, as he ruefully surveyed the empty bench, for there in a corner, tossed under the bench on which Henry had been sitting, was a wad of crumpled paper which the boy's experienced eyes told him was from the telegraph company's stores of stationery. Pouncing upon the ragged ball with the hunger of a small boy in pursuit of information concerning a base ball match, Mike drew forth a "receiving blank," torn and crumpled, on which was written an incomprehensible message. Kneeling on the floor, his stubby hands shaking with excitement, Mike smoothed out the torn despatch, joining the two larger fragments so as to get the meaning of the words. And this, after some botheration, was what was revealed to Mike's distended eyes:-- [Illustration: Form 2. MUTUAL UNION TELEGRAPH CO Errors can be guarded against only by repeating a message back to the sending station for comparison, and the company will in transmission or delivery of Unrepeated Messages, beyond the amount of tolls paid thereon, nor in any case where the sixty days after sending the message. This is an UNREPEATED MESSAGE, and is delivered by request of the sender, under the conditions named above. JOHN G. MOORE, President. ======================================================================== Get all the bet you can against Catalpas they lose game sure ======================================================================== READ THE NOTICE AT THE TOP.]