"Ha! I know you now!" was the last desperate ruse. "You are Captain Joaquin, the outlaw!"

"Perhaps I am," said Dick.

He withdrew, and went down the street. Susana was with him.

The others, somehow, had disappeared already, and after these two turned a corner, they, too, were seen no more.

It was as if the very earth had opened and taken them in. And when, a little later, the hue and cry of a daylight robbery was raised, not a vestige of the robbers could be found.


[CHAPTER XVII.]

THE SECOND BLOW FALLS.

Powder Pocket was all excitement.

Banker Brown declared it was Captain Joaquin who had made the raid.