to his accomplice.

"So he's afeard of us!" commented Dick. "Well, it ain't much wonder that he
is. Ef I had as many crimes to account for as he has, and others knew of my
guilt, I'd be skeered, too."

"See here, Dick, what the d----l does he mean by wanting us to hurry off
that affair with Duval?"

"Fool! can't you see nothin'? Why, he wants us to kill a member of the
Order, and then have us shot as traitors!"

"Egad! plain enough, truly. Well, Mr. Duval, you may pass this time; we'll
pitch into higher game. What do you say, Dick?"

"Say? Why, that this friend of ours will have to git up mighty airly in the
mornin', ef he finds us nappin'."

"Let me tell you, it is no very pleasant fix, this, that we are in. Duffel
fears we will betray him, and is resolved to prevent it by having us
killed. That's the 'long and short' of the matter; and he has fifty men at
his back, all sworn to obey his orders. He can accuse us of treason, try,
condemn, and have us shot, in the shortest possible time. Now, how are we
to help ourselves?"

"Well, we can't be tried till the next regular meeting of the League, and
it is more than two weeks till that time. We can watch his movements, and,
ef need be, kill him or give him over into the hands of the law on a charge
of murder."

"Yes, give him over to justice, and who is to prove him guilty, unless it
be ourselves, and then we would have the whole League down upon us in quick
time! a pretty way, indeed, to get rid of him. True, we might kill him at
our next meeting in the 'swamp' and then be hung for it, which would be a
poor recompense for our trouble and bad pay for taking the life of such a
dastard. No, I am for revenge--a revenge that will thwart his designs, and
save us from his power at the same time."

"But how are you going to accomplish so much? that's the rub."

"See here; on the back of this note, Miss Mandeville writes a few lines,
asking our aid, and promising a reward for any service we may be willing
and able to render her. My plan is this: To take the lady from the cave,
which will be the deepest blow we can strike the villain, and then--"

"Well that'll do for the present. I want to know, before you go any
further, how you are to git the gal out without the _key_, which, I take
it, Duffel is very careful to secure about his own person?"

"Key! the deuce!" replied Bill, taken aback, for a moment, by the query. "I
hadn't thought of that, but it's no difference; my