CHAPTER IV


IMPORTANT LETTERS

"Whoa! Steady old boy! Easy now!"

Thus Jack exclaimed, as he leaped from the Saddle and held the reins
lightly to restrain Sunger.

The pony snorted, whinnied, and, after prancing about a few moments, stood
still.

"That's better!" commented Jack. "Now let's see what happened."

There was, as Jack said, "half a moon," and by the light of this he was
able to see, as he glanced over the part of the bridge he had traversed, a
place where a plank had fallen out. A gap was left--a gap wide enough to
have allowed a horse's leg to slip through, with disastrous results to
animal and rider.

"Well, Sunger, old boy," went on Jack, "did we do that; did it just happen
of itself; or was it done on purpose?"

For, in a second's flash, there had come to him his father's warning.

"Well, if it's some one after my job, it's a mean trick they have played in
trying to get it," mused Jack, aloud. "I wouldn't so much mind for myself,
for I guess I could have swum out all right. But I guess you'd have been