"No man is goin' for to tell me that anybody can trust to _looks_ and _sounds_.

Why, I've know'd the greatest villain that ever chewed the end of a smuggled cigar _look_ as innocent as the babe unborn.

An' is there a man here wot'll tell me he hasn't often an' over again mistook the crack of a big gun for a clap o' thunder ?" This was received with much approval by the crowd, which had evidently more than half-forgotten the terrible purpose for which it had assembled there, and was now much interested in what bade fair to be a keen dispute.

When the noise abated, Dan raised his voice and said: "If Burke had not interrupted me, I was going to have said that another thing which proves the letter to be no forgery is, that the postmark of San Francisco is on the back of it, with the date all right." This statement delighted the crowd immensely, and caused Burke to look disconcerted for a few seconds; he rallied, however, and returned to the charge.
"Postmarks! wot do I care for postmarks?
Can't a man forge a postmark as easy as any other mark ?" "Ah! that's true," from a voice in the crowd.
"No, not so easily as _any_ other mark," retorted Dan; "for it's made with a kind of ink that's not sold in shops.

Everything goes to prove that the letter is no forgery.