hich she was placed, and
contemplated the hopelessness of her situation, a tide of emotions, long
suppressed, swept over her spirit, and yielding to her feelings, she bowed
her head, and wept.

When Duffel was alone, he called up all that had passed, and as he dwelt on
the revelation of his plots as made to him by Eveline, he came to the
conclusion that the sooner he could get rid of Bill and Dick the better;
for it must have been through them that she came in possession of the
secrets known only to themselves.

"I'll teach them a lesson!" he said, "and once clear of these fellows I
will never trust rascals again. I wish they would, hurry and make way with
Duval; I would then have them! However, I must have an interview now, and
use them awhile longer."

He proceeded to the "swamp," where his associates were to meet him. They
were already in waiting when he arrived, and without ceremony or
circumlocution, he accosted them as follows:

"So, then, you have turned traitors, have you?"

"_Traitors!_"

"Yes, and been developing my secrets."

"If any tongue but yours should dare make the accusation, it would be
silenced forever," replied Bill, in much excitement. "Who dares to make
such a charge against us? We demand to know, and his lying lips shall be
sealed with his own blood!"

"There, that will do. It was only a woman that intimated to me that you
were unfaithful; and I thought then, as I think now, that it was all
guess-work with her."

Here he narrated so much of the interview with Eveline as related to
themselves, and concluded by asking if they had held any private
conversation that she could by any possibility have overheard.

"Not a word, your honor; we did not so much as make a sign by which she
might suspect us or you."

"Very well, I am satisfied; but it seems she either knows or suspects
something, and we must be more than ever on our guard. What I wish to say
to you now, is, that this lady, either for willfulness or out of disbelief,
affects to discredit my statement concerning Hadley's death, and I wish you
to accompany me to the cave to-morrow, and confirm my statements. You need
not implicate yourselves, but give the facts as you saw them transpire."

"All right we'll be there; and I guess we can fix up the right kind of a
story for the occasion."

"And to-morrow night you must make a descent upon 'Squire Williams'
pasture-field, and save a little of his grass by removing a part of his
stoc