them, he pushed his way through the brushwood, in advance of them, and
then, at a bend in the road which hid him from view, he leaped out upon
the road, turned, and met the party. He walked straight up to them,
looked them in the eye, and passed on. They did not know him; or, if, as
was alleged against them afterwards, they knew him, they were afraid to
arrest him. The statement that Donald carried his audacity so far as to
enter the hotel, and drink with them, he himself laughingly denied to
his friends.

The opposition papers jeered at the failure of the expedition. Ridicule
is the most powerful of weapons. Man is not half so humorous as the dog
or the elephant. With the latter it is an instinct. With the former it
is an acquirement. Still, the perception of humor is fairly general.
Don't argue with your opponent, Kill him with ridicule. Laughter is
deadly. When the people laugh at a Government it can put its spare
collar and shirt in its red handkerchief, and retire to the privacy of
its family. Mr. Mercier is sensitive to ridicule.

Mr. Mercier withdrew that expedition, and offered $3,000 reward for the
capture of Morrison!




CHAPTER XXV.

PROOF AGAINST BRIBES!

"A man's a man for a' that."