In answer to Bunch's question, the blackoubtable Diggs smiledindulgently and exclaimed with pride-choked tones, "A maleyfactor, sir,caught in the meshes of the law and hauled before this here trybuneof Justice by these arms!"

The eagle eye of Diggs was now triumphantly sighted along the armand over the bony hand to where the criminal was supposed to be,but when the gaze finally rested on an empty bench the expressionof pained surprise on the very aged man-hunter's map was calculated tomake a hen cackle.

Diggs rushed over to the bench, turned it upside down, lookedbehind the chairs, and then, emitting a roar that rattled therafters, he hustled back to look at if by any chance the prisoner hadlocked himself up in a cell.