s if he was stone dead."

In a short time the young men had reached the tavern, where the team and
vehicle belonged. As they drew up in front of the door, Jesse Tidwell,
continuing and completing his description of the condition of Burrel
Bohannon, exclaimed: "Yes, sir, he fell and lay there. He may have
kicked a time or two, and I think he mumbled something, but he was as
good as dead."

Bridalbin, restless and uneasy, had been wandering about the town, and
he came up just in time to hear this last remark. At that moment, a
negro issued from the tavern with a lantern, and Bridalbin was not at
all surprised to see Gabriel Tolliver with the rest; and he wondered
what mischief the young men had been engaged in. Some one had been badly
hurt or killed. That much he could gather from Tidwell's declaration;
but who?

He went to his lodging and to bed in a very uncomfortable frame of
mind.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

_The Fate of Mr. Hotchkiss_

Mr. Hotchkiss, after leaving the Union League, had decided not to wait
for his co-worker, whom he knew as Boring. So far as he was concerned,
he had no fears. He knew, of course, that he was playing with fire, but
what of that? He had the Government behind him, and he had two companies
of troops within call. What more could any man ask? More than that, he
was doing what he conceived to be his duty. He belonged to that large
and pestiferous tribe of reformers, who go through the world without
fixed principles. He had been an abolitionist, but he was not of the
Garrison type. On the contrary, he thought that Garrison was a
time-server and a laggard who needed to be spurred and driven. He was
one of the men who urged John Brown to stir up an insurrection in which
innocent women and children would have been the chief sufferers; and he
would have rejoiced sincerely if John Brown had been successful. He
mistook his opinions for first principles, and went on the theory that
what he thought right could not by any possibility be wrong. He belonged
to the Peace Society, and yet nothing would have pleased him better
than an uprising of the blacks, followed by the shedding of innocent
blood.

In short, there were never two sides to any question that interested
Hotchkiss. He held the Southern people responsible for American slavery,
and would have refused to listen to any statement of facts calculated to
upset his belief. He was narrow-minded, bigoted, and intensely in
earnest. Some writ