“Who are you, that you should hold up my wagon?” demanded the driver angrily.
“I am an officer,” replied Nick.
“If you are an officer, then it is all right,” replied the driver. “I thought that you were one of the robbers that has been making things hot for the people around Astoria, and I did not want to take any chances.”
“What have you got in your wagon?”
“Oh, I have just got a load of boards that I am going to take up to Harlem.”
“I think that I had better look in the wagon, and see that valuable load that you are so careful not to lose.”
“I’ll be blowed if you do!” replied the man, making another slash at Nick with his whip.
Nick’s revolver was out in an instant, and he told the fellow that if he did not climb down off the seat that he would fill him full of lead.
The driver got down and stood to one side, while Nick made the examination of the load.
It was as the driver had said, and Nick was about to let the man go, when his trained eye caught sight of a piece of blue jean that had caught on a nail, evidently as the owner of the garment had been getting out of the wagon.