"I'm positive!" Jack answered. "I remember it very well. It was the only
bundle of papers with that kind of a wrapper."

For a moment there was a silence in the group.

"Well, they are gone," Mr. Argent went on.

Once more Jack wondered at the peculiar manner in which the miner spoke.

"I--I'm awfully sorry, Mr. Argent," said Jack, brokenly. "I thought I was
doing the best thing to put the letters inside a newspaper bundle. I
figured that the thieves would pass that over as of no importance. I had
read of such things being done."

"But I guessed wrong. They must have been looking for the things you
expected. They must have been on the watch, and were waiting for me to hold
me up. I'm awfully sorry!"

Jack thought of the suspicion that had been directed against his father
because the contents of a letter entrusted to him had been made public. Now
the son had failed in a trust. It was no excuse to say it could not be
helped. The valuable letters were gone, and that alone mattered now. Jack
saw himself disgraced, and the pony express route ridden by some one else.

"I'm--I'm awfully sorry," he said again.

"Oh, you needn't be!" exclaimed Mr. Argent, and he was actually laughing.
"You needn't be."