e in and fired questions at me for half an hour, then he hiked off up
to The Oaks."

"Murrell's been arrested," said Ware in a dull level voice. Hicks gave
him a glance of unmixed astonishment.

"No!" he cried.

"Yes, by God!"

"Who'd risk it?"

"Risk it? Man, he almost fainted dead away--a damned coward. Hell!"

"How do you know this?" asked Hicks, appalled.

"I was with him when he was taken--it was Hues the man he trusted more
than any other!" Ware gave the overseer a ghastly grin and was silent,
but in that silence he heard the drumming of his own heart. He went on.
"I tell you to save himself John Murrell will implicate the rest of us;
we've got to get him free, and then, by hell--we ought to knock him in
the head; he isn't fit to live!"

"The jail ain't built that'll hold him!!" muttered Hicks.

"Of course, he can't be held," agreed Ware. "And 'he'll never be brought
to trial; no lawyer will dare appear against him, no jury will dare find
him guilty; but there's Hues, what about him?" He paused. The two men
looked at each other for a long moment.

"Where did they carry the captain?" inquired Hicks.

"I don't know."

"It looks like the Clan was in a hell-fired hole--but shucks! What
will be easier than to fix Hues?--and while they're fixing folks they'd
better not overlook that old fellow Price. He's got some notion about
Fentress and the boy." Mr. Hicks did not consider it necessary to
explain that he was himself largely responsible for this.

"How do you know that?" demanded Ware.

"He as good as said so." Hicks looked uneasily at the planter. He knew
himself to be compromised. The stranger named Cavendish had forced an
admission from him that Murrell would not condone if it came to his
knowledge. He had also acquired a very proper and wholesome fear of
Judge Slocum Price. He stepped close to Ware's side. "What'll come of
the girl, Tom? Can you figure that out?" he questioned, sinking his
voice almost to a whisper. But Ware was incapable of speech, again
his terrors completely overwhelmed him. "I reckon you'll have to find
another overseer. I'm going to strike out for Texas," said Hicks.

Ware's eyes met his for an instant. He had thought of flight, too, was
still thinking of it, but greed was as much a part of his nature as
fear; Belle Plain was a prize not to be lightly cast aside, and it was
almost his. He lurched across the room to the window. If he were going
to act, the sooner he did so t