"He can preach the funeral!" shouted Ike Smalley. By this time there
were a dozen men on the bank below.

"I give you fair warning," cried Anderson Crow impressively. "We're
goin' to surround the house, an' we'll take that rascal if we have to
shoot the boards into sawdust!"

"But what has he done, except to get married?" called Crosby as the
posse began to spread out.

"Do you s'pose I'm fool enough to tell you if you don't know?" said
Anderson Crow. "Just as like as not you'd be claimin' the thousand
dollars reward if you knowed it had been offered! Spread out, boys, an'
we'll show 'em dern quick!"

There was dead silence inside the house for a full minute. Every eye was
wide and every mouth was open in surprise and consternation.

"A thousand dollars reward!" gasped Jack Barnes. "Then, good Lord, I
_must_ have done something!"

"What _have_ you been doing, Jack Barnes?" cried his bride, aghast.

"I must have robbed a train," said he dejectedly.

"Well, this is serious, after all," said Crosby. "It's not an eloper
they're after, but a desperado."

"A kidnaper, perhaps," suggested his wife.