"I came very near dancing on nothing, now I tell you; and if you only knew all that has happened in this house since dark, you wouldn't say that there was no one here to take care of that money.

But, uncle, how came you by that wound ?" "Pierre gave it to me," was the reply.

"He slipped up behind me when I was dismounting, and struck me with something.

But what did he do to you ?" "He pulled me up by the neck with my own lasso," replied Frank; "that's what he did to me." "The scoundrel!" exclaimed the doctor.

"Tell us all about it." Thus encouraged, Frank began and related his story, to which his auditors listened with breathless attention.