it with no flicker of visible interest in his pleasant drawl.

"Well, as to that, what little property I've got would be benefited, but
as an officer of the law, I reckon it wouldn't hardly be proper for me
to take no sides." A moment later he hospitably added, "If there's any
courtesy I can show you gentlemen just call on me. Where are you goin'
to stop at?"

I gazed on this lord of lies with compelled fascination. Under a crude
exterior and a suavity which gave the impression of stupid good-nature
he was masking bitter and intense feeling. Here was a tyrant talking
with men who represented the new order and he knew as well as we that if
we succeeded his carefully built scheme must topple. Our success and his
could not both have life. One must perish. The power that had enriched
him, a power built on murder and stealth, must go from him, leaving him
only the contempt of his fellows--or he must thwart our designs. One
might have expected such dissimulation in a polished diplomat moving the
strategic pieces of the chessboard of some European power, but here it
seemed inconceivable.

"We are on our way over to the Calloway Marcus place," explained my
companion in a casual voice.

There was no change of expression on the face of the storekeeper, though
the name was one he venomously hated. One or two of the more unguarded
loungers scowled in silence.

"How did you calc'late to git thar?" asked Garvin. "It's all of two
miles an' they're rough miles--mostly straight up an' down."

"I suppose we shall have to walk," said Weighborne.

"I'd like to take you over thar," said the judge thoughtfully, "I sure
would, but the fact is me and Cal Marcus ain't got much in common
an'--well, you understand how it is?"

We thanked him for his solicitude and at the same moment one of the
henchmen drew him aside and spoke in a low voice. Garvin came back and
addressed us again.

"Curt Dawson says Cal Marcus went past here this mornin', goin' to'rds
town. It's an hour by sun now--he'd ought to be comin' back this way
before long."

I have spoken at length of Garvin and have given only collective notice
to the group of mountaineers who loafed about the dingy store, because
aside from their more savage qualities they were much like the indolent
loungers one may see in any cross-roads grocery. Even viewed as
feudists, and I was so new to the country that I was inclined to
discount the somber and murderous stories of their ways, they