"Yes, they have been found!" broke in Meiggs, in the midst of Mr. Rimmon's words. "Here they are!" holding up one hand, in which were clasped three or four badly soiled and abused letters.
"I found them in an old stump between Hollow Tree and Greenbrier," continued the speaker, while great excitement instantly began to come over the crowd. "They have been opened, and I found with them a letter belonging to Dix Lewis!"
CHAPTER XXIV.
DRIVEN TO THE WALL.
The excitement following Morton Meiggs' announcement of the finding of the lost registered letters, and the sight of them in his hand, was so great that Mr. Rimmon attempted to speak several times before he could make himself heard.
"We would like to hear the particulars in regard to the finding of the letters, Mr. Meiggs," said the postmaster.
"I can give them in a very few words, Mr. Rimmon. I was riding up from Greenbrier, and got up to within about a mile of Hollow Tree, when I thought I heard the rustling of paper in the bushes by the roadside. Stopping my horse, I hadn't listened a great while before I knew I was right."
"Still I didn't think anything strange of that, and I was just going to start along, when I thought I saw a bit of paper sticking out of a hollow stump growing, or rather standing, for I suppose it had got done growing, two or three rods away from the road.
"I had the curiosity to investigate, so I got off my horse and went up to the stump of a tree. Sure enough, there was a letter a-sticking out of a crack in the dead tree. I pulled it out to find it was one of them registered letters which had been lost or something done with them.
"I began to look about the place, and to reward me for my trouble I found all three of them registered letters of Mr. Warfield's, and I also found one telltale letter sent to Dix Lewis. All of them were opened just as I show them to you."
It seemed a long time before any one spoke, after Mr. Meiggs' statement.