'
'They tried that twice, but it didn't turn out profitable,' replied
the robber.
'How did you elude them?'
'Why we simply posted ourselves at convenient points and caught the
intruding idiots. Out of a pack of twelve only one got out of the
swamp alive.'
'Have the constabulary ever sought you here?'
'Oh, frequently. Once they were permitted to roam about through the
swamp without molestation. They found nothing for all their searching
but a shed built on the lake's edge, and evidently used by fishing
parties. They then returned and declared that the story of the swamp
being infested was all fudge. A couple of years passed, during which
many a bloated butcher and cattle dealer was relieved of his purse;
and a few who were foolish enough to dispute about the coin were
despoiled of more than their money. A girl also disappeared; a buxom
lass with yellow hair and blue eyes, about whom half the country
bumpkins had gone nearly wild.'
Our hero shuddered at the recital; but the robber heeded not his
emotion.
'Then came indisputable proof that only persons living in the jolly
swamp could have stolen the girl, taken the money, and cracked the
few numb-skulls; so they resolved, in the words of the newspapers of
Muddy York, to "clean out the odious nest.
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