nson's saloon he hurled
invectives at the colonel, to all who would listen, and with anger
and bad whiskey, soon worked himself into a frame of mind that was
ripe for any mischief. Some of his utterances were reported to the
colonel, who was not without friends--the wealthy seldom are; but he
paid no particular attention to them, except to keep a watchman at the
mill at night, lest this hostility should seek an outlet in some
attempt to injure the property. The precaution was not amiss, for once
the watchman shot at a figure prowling about the mill. The lesson was
sufficient, apparently, for there was no immediate necessity to repeat
it.

The shooting of Haines, while not so sensational as that of Barclay
Fetters, had given rise to considerable feeling against Ben Dudley.
That two young men should quarrel, and exchange shots, would not
ordinarily have been a subject of extended remark. But two attempts at
assassination constituted a much graver affair. That Dudley was
responsible for this second assault was the generally accepted
opinion. Fetters's friends and hirelings were openly hostile to young
Dudley, and Haines had been heard to say, in his cups, at Clay
Jackson's saloon, that when young Dudley was tried and convicted and
sent to the penitentiary, he would be hired out to Fetters, who had
the country contract, and that he, Haines, would be delighted to have
Dudley in his gang. The feeling against Dudley grew from day to day,
and threats and bets were openly made that he would not live to be
tried. There was no direct proof against him, but the moral and
circumstantial evidence was quite sufficient to convict him in the
eyes of Fetter's friends and supporters. The colonel was sometimes
mentioned, in connection with the affair as a friend of Ben's, for
whom he had given bail, and as an enemy of Fetters, to whom his
antagonism in various ways had become a matter of public knowledge and
interest.

One day, while the excitement attending the second shooting was thus
growing, Colonel French received through the mail a mysteriously
worded note, vaguely hinting at some matter of public importance which
the writer wished to communicate to him, and requesting a private
interview for the purpose, that evening, at the colonel's house. The
note, which had every internal evidence of sincerity, was signed by
Henry Taylor, the principal of the coloured school, whom the colonel
had met several times in reference to the proposed