"Only found the valise, sir."

"But that's enough," put in Uriah d.i.c.ks. "That and the knife clew."

"Seems to me you are mighty anxious to have the boy found guilty," cried Bart Hayc.o.c.k, angrily. "What makes you so down on the boy?"

"He is down on me because we have stopped trading with him, and because I won't work for him for starvation wages," retorted Ralph. "He is a mean skinflint, and half the village knows it."

"Wha--what!" spluttered Uriah. "This--to me?"

"Yes, to you," cried Ralph, boldly. "Now, don't say any more or it may be the worse for you. I don't see why folks shouldn't believe you were one of the men who robbed the post office."

"Well, I never!" gasped Uriah. "Ain't he thoroughly bad, though? Next thing he'll be settin' my barn on fire."

"Unless you do it yourself for the insurance," put in a voice in the rear of the crowd, and then there was a laugh that made Uriah furious.

But he knew that many could tell things to his disadvantage should they choose to speak, so he sneaked out of sight without making any reply to his tormentors.

No time was lost by the postmaster and Squire Paget in listening to what Jack Rodman had to say. Then Mr. Hooker turned to Ralph.

"Nelson, what have you to say in answer to this?"

"Simply that I am innocent, Mr. Hooker. I believe that there was a boy mixed up in this affair, but that boy was not myself."

Then Ralph was called on to tell his story, which he did in a straightforward manner. After this he was severely cross-questioned.

"I can't understand about that valise and knife," mused Benjamin Hooker.

"If you left the knife in the outer office, how did it get inside?"

"That I cannot answer, sir. Perhaps somebody saw it outside and carried it in."

"There was n.o.body in the office yesterday except Henry Bott and myself."

"Well, I cannot explain it. But, as I said before, I am innocent."

CHAPTER XX.

OUT ON BAIL.

"Did you get a look at the faces of the men and the boy you say you saw?"

asked the postmaster, after a pause.

"No, sir. I saw them, but it was too dark to distinguish faces."

"And you say each carried a handbag?"

"Yes, sir."

"Can you prove that you were not around the post office at the time of the explosion?"

"I cannot, sir. I was just coming from home to go to Dr. Foley's, for my mother, who was taken sick during the night."

"And you went to Dr. Foley's afterward?"

"Yes, sir. He will tell you the same thing."

"What of the valise found in your back doorward?"

"I know nothing of it, excepting that both my mother and I fancied we heard somebody around the house just a short while before the constable and the others came."

Postmaster Hooker turned to Squire Paget.

"What do you think of this, squire?" he asked.

"Very queer," responded the squire, briefly. "I think you had better have him held until we can investigate further. Remember, we have not heard from the other parties who went out yet."

[Ill.u.s.tration: "Here they found all in confusion." See page 122.]

"Yes, we'll have to hold you, Nelson," said Mr. Hooker. "It's too bad, if you are innocent, but it can't be helped."

"Do you mean to say you will lock me up?" exclaimed Ralph, in horror.

"We'll have to--for a while--unless you can furnish satisfactory bail."

"How much bail do you wish?" asked the boy, faintly.

A consultation was held between the postmaster and Squire Paget, and finally bail was fixed at three hundred dollars.

"That will hold him tight enough," whispered the squire. "No one will go bail to that amount for him."

But Squire Paget was mistaken. While Ralph was being taken to the village lockup, a gentleman stepped up. In him Ralph recognized Mr. Leander Carrington, Julia Carrington's father.

"I will go that boy's bail," said the rich man.

"You, Carrington!" cried the squire, in some astonishment.

"Yes."

"You are running a mighty big risk," sniffed the squire.

"I reckon I can stand it," laughed Leander Carrington. "I do not believe the boy is guilty."

"I do."

"Besides, he did my wife and daughter a service that I shall ever remember," went on Mr. Carrington, warmly. "He stopped my team when your son let them run away from him."