neglecting the punch all this time. A bumper round, gentlemen. Success
to our enterprise!"

"Success to our enterprise!" echoed the others, significantly.

"May I ask whether you made any further inquiries into the mysterious
affair about which we were speaking just now?" observed Jackson, turning
to the carpenter.

"I can't say I did," replied Wood, somewhat reluctantly; "what with the
confusion incident to the storm, and the subsequent press of business, I
put it off till it was too late. I've often regretted that I didn't
investigate the matter. However, it doesn't much signify. All concerned
in the dark transaction must have perished."

"Are you sure of that," inquired Jackson.

"As sure as one reasonably can be. I saw their boat swept away, and
heard the roar of the fall beneath the bridge; and no one, who was
present, could doubt the result. If the principal instigator of the
crime, whom I afterwards encountered on the platform, and who was dashed
into the raging flood by the shower of bricks, escaped, his preservation
must have been indeed miraculous."

"Your own was equally so," said Jackson ironically. "What if he _did_
escape?"

"My utmost efforts should be used to bring him to justice."

"Hum!"