they straightened into the river road, Mr. Sedgwick spread one hand over
his heart, rolled his eyes heavenward and observed with fine dramatic
effect:

"'I claim your pr-r-r-r-omise'!"

Mr. Johnson sat in a cell of Vesper Jail, charged with assault and
battery in the _n_th degree; drunk and disorderly understood, but
that charge unpreferred as yet. It is no part of legal method to bring
one accused of intoxication before the magistrate at once, so that the
judicial mind may see for itself. By this capital arrangement, the justly
intoxicated may be acquitted for lack of convincing evidence, after they
have had time to sober up; while the unjustly accused, who should go free
on sight, are at the mercy of such evidence as the unjust accuser sees
fit to bring or send.

The Messrs. Poole had executed their commission upon Vesper Bridge,
pouncing upon Mr. Johnson as he passed between them, all unsuspecting.
They might well have failed in their errand, however, had it not been
that Mr. Johnson was, in a manner of speaking, in dishabille, having left
his gun at the hotel. Even so, he improvised several new lines and some
effective stage business before he was overpowered by numbers and weight.

The brothers Poole were regarded with much disfavor by Undersheriff
Barton, who made the arrest; but their appearance bore out their story.
It was plain that some one had battered them.

Mr. Johnson quite won the undersheriff's esteem by his seemly bearing
after the arrest. He accepted the situation with extreme composure,
exhibiting small rancor toward his accusers, refraining from