s evident, and Fentress' thin face cast itself in haggard lines. He
was feeling the judge's terrible capacity, his unexpected ability to
deal with a supreme situation. Even Mahaffy gazed at his friend in
wonder. He had only seen him spend himself on trifles, with no further
object than the next meal or the next drink; he had believed that as
he knew him so he had always been, lax and loose of tongue and deed,
a noisy tavern hero, but now he saw that he was filling what must have
been the measure of his manhood.

"I tell you I had no hand in carrying off the boy," said Fentress with a
sardonic smile.

"I look to you to return him. Stir yourself, Gatewood, or by God, I'll
hold so fierce a reckoning with you--"

The sentence remained unfinished, for Fentress felt his overwrought
nerves snap, and giving way to a sudden blind fury struck at the judge.

"We are too old for rough and tumble," said the judge, who had displayed
astonishing agility in avoiding the blow. "Furthermore we were once
gentlemen. At present I am what I am, while you are a hound and a
blackguard! We'll settle this as becomes our breeding." He poured
himself a second glass of liquor from Fentress' decanter. "I wonder
if it is possible to insult you," and he tossed glass and contents in
Fentress' face. The colonel's thin features were convulsed. The judge
watched him with a scornful curling of the lips. "I am treating you
better than you deserve," he taunted.

"To-morrow morning at sun-up at Boggs' racetrack!" cried Fentress. The
judge bowed with splendid courtesy.

"Nothing could please me half so well," he declared. He turned to the
others. "Gentlemen, this is a private matter. When I have met Colonel
Fentress I shall make a public announcement of why this appeared
necessary to me; until then I trust this matter will not be given
publicity. May I ask your silence?" He bowed again, and abruptly passed
from the room.

His three friends followed in his steps, leaving Fentress standing by
the table, the ghost of a smile on his thin lips.

As if the very place were evil, the judge hurried down the drive toward
the road. At the gate he paused and turned on his companions, but his
features wore a look of dignity that forbade comment or question. He
held out his hand to Yancy.

"Sir," he said, "if I could command the riches of the Indies, it would
tax my resources to meet the fractional part of my obligations to you."

"Think of that!" said Yancy, as