t, his appetite gone, complexion livid, and
pulse denoting deep prostration of all vital energies. I am alarmed and
anxious over the responsibility of my position. If he should die in
prison without trial, subject to such severities as have been inflicted
on his attenuated frame the world will form conclusions and with enough
color to pass them into history."

Dr. Craven was getting too troublesome. General Miles dismissed him, and
called in Dr. George Cooper, a physician whose political opinions were
supposed to be sounder.

CHAPTER XLV

THE MASTER MIND

Socola read the story of the chaining of the Confederate Chieftain with
indignation. His intimate association with Jefferson Davis had convinced
him of his singular purity of character and loftiness of soul. That he
was capable of conspiring to murder Abraham Lincoln was inconceivable.
That the charge should be made and pressed seriously by the National
Government was a disgrace to the country.

Charles O'Connor, the greatest lawyer in America, indignant at the
outrage, had offered his services to the prisoner. Socola hastened to a
conference with O'Connor and placed himself at his command.

The lawyer sent him to Washington to find out the master mind at the
bottom of these remarkable proceedings.

"Johnson the President," he warned, "is only a tool in the hands of a
_stronger_ man. Find that man. Stanton, the Secretary of War, is
vindictive enough, but he lacks the cunning. Stevens, the leader of the
House, is the real ruler of the Nation at this moment. Yet I have the
most positive information that Stevens sneers at the attempt to accuse
Davis of the assassination of Lincoln. Stevens hated Lincoln only a
degree less than he hates Davis. He is blunt, outspoken, brutal in his
views. There can be no question of the honesty of his position. Sumner,
the leader of the Senate, is incapable of such low intrigue. Find the
man and report to me."

Socola found him within six hours after his arrival in Washington. He
was morally sure of him from the moment he left O'Connor's office.

Immediately on his arrival at the Capital he sought an interview with
Joseph Holt, now the Judge Advocate General of the United States Army.
He was therefore in charge of the prosecution of the cases of Clay and
Davis.

For five minutes he watched the crooked poisonous mouth of the
ex-Secretary of War and knew the truth. This vindictive venomous old
man, ambitious, avaricious,