"How did it happen?" inquired the other, with Yankee inquisitiveness.

"I was out hunting," said Ben, carelessly, "with a friend who wasn't
much used to firearms. In swinging his gun round, it accidentally went
off, and I got shot through the shoulder."

"That's bad," said the station-master, in a tone of sympathy. "You'd
better go round to the doctor's, and have it attended to."

"I would," said Ben, "but I am called away by business of the greatest
importance. I can get along for a few hours, and then I'll have a doctor
look at it. How soon will the train be here?"

"It's coming now. Don't you hear it?"

"That's the train I must take. You see I couldn't wait long enough for
the doctor," added Ben, anxious to account satisfactorily for his
inattention to the medical assistance of which he stood in need.

When he was fairly on board the cars, and the train was under way, he
felt considerably relieved. He was speeding fast away from the man he
had robbed, and who was interested in his capture, and in a few days he
might be at sea, able to snap his fingers at his miserly uncle and the
boy whom he determined some day to meet and settle scores with.

From one enemy of Robert the transition is brief and natural to another.
At this very moment Halbert Davis was sauntering idly and discontentedly
through the streets of the village. He was the son of a rich man, or of
one whom most persons, his own family included, supposed to be rich; but
this consciousness, though it made him proud, by no means made him