"Go on," said I, "let's know the worst at once."
"And he couldn't stay to help the young lady, 'cause he was running to catch the midnight train."
"Thank goodness!"
"Yes, ma'am, he was due in Lordsburgh this mawning to collect a hoss-thief."
"And nobody else saw the wig?"
"No, ma'am, only Pedersen. He came whirling down on me this mawning at Lordsburgh with dreams and visions about a robber chasing a wig, and a lady holed up in yo' home, and the same being disguised as a woman, but really a man, and wanting two thousand dollars daid or alive for the wig which its name was Curly. He seemed a heap confused and unreliable."
"This Pedersen man," says Miss Blossom, "is coming here to arrest her—I mean him! Oh, what's the use of talking! Speak, man! Speak!"
"Deputy-Marshal Pedersen, ma'am, is now in prison."
"Arrested!"
"Why, sheriff," says I, "what has he done to get arrested?"