"Frien', the Epperson piano what me uncle handles in East Texas, fur sweetness, durability--" "Stop the car," said the lawyer. He got off and skulked in a dark doorway until the four agents, who had also got off the car, rushed past, and then he picked up a big stone from the gutter and put it in his pocket. He went around a back way to his home and slipped up to the gate feeling pretty safe. The minister of his church had been calling at the house, and came out the gate just as the lawyer reached it. The lawyer was the proud father of a brand-new, two-weeks-old baby, and the minister had just been admiring it, and wanted to congratulate him. "My dear brother," said the minister. "Your house will soon be filled with joy and music. I think it will be a great addition to your life. Now, there is nothing in the world that for sweetness--" "Confound you, you're drumming for a piano, too, are you?" yelled the lawyer, drawing the stone from his pocket. He fired away and knocked the minister's tall hat across the street, and kicked him in the shin. The minister believed in the church militant, and he gave the lawyer a one-two on the nose, and they clinched and rolled off the sidewalk on a pile of loose bricks. The neighbors heard the row and came out with shotguns and lanterns, and finally an understanding was arrived at. The lawyer was considerably battered up, and the family doctor was sent for to patch him. As the doctor bent over him with sticking-plaster and a bottle of arnica, he said: "You'll be out in a day or two, and then I want you to come around and buy a piano from my brother. The one he is agent for is acknowledged to be the best one for sweetness, durability, style, quality, and action in the world." Too Late Young Lieutenant Baldwin burst excitedly into his general's room and cried hoarsely: "For God's sake, General! Up! Up! and come. Spotted Lightning has carried off your daughter, Inez!" General Splasher sprang to his feet in dismay. "What," he cried, "not Spotted Lightning, the chief of the Kiomas, the most peaceful tribe in the reservation?" "The same." "Good heavens! You know what this tribe is when aroused?" The lieutenant cast a swift look of intelligence at his commander. "They are the most revengeful, murderous, and vindictive Indians in the West when on the warpath, but for months they have been the most peaceable," he answered. "Come," said the general, "we have not a moment to lose. What has been done?" "There are fifty cavalrymen ready to start, with Bowie Knife Bill, the famous scout, to track them." Ten minutes later the general and the lieutenant, with Bowie Knife Bill at their side, set out at a swinging gallop at the head of the cavalry column. Bowie Knife Bill, with the trained instincts of a border sleuthhound, followed the trail of Spotted Lightning's horse with unerring swiftness.