upon his face and breast in the most brutal, shocking manner.

"Kill him! He's worse than Green!" somebody cried out, in a voice so
full of cruelty and murder that it made my blood curdle. "Remember
Willy Hammond!"

The terrible scene that followed, in which were heard a confused
mingling of blows, cries, yells, and horrible oaths, continued for
several minutes, and ceased only when the words--"Don't, don't strike
him any more! He's dead!" were repeated several times. Then the wild
strife subsided. As the crowd parted from around the body of Judge
Lyman, and gave way, I caught a single glance at his face. It was
covered with blood, and every feature seemed to have been literally
trampled down, until all was a level surface! Sickened at the sight, I
passed hastily from the room into the open air, and caught my breath
several times, before respiration again went on freely. As I stood in
front of the tavern, the body of Judge Lyman was borne out by three or
four men, and carried off in the direction of his dwelling.

"Is he dead?" I inquired of those who had him in charge.

"No," was the answer. "He's not dead, but terribly beaten," and they
passed on.

Again the loud voices of men in angry strife arose in the bar-room. I
did not return there to learn the cause, or to witness the fiend-like
conduct of the men, all whose worst passions were stimulated by drink
into the wildest fervor. As I was entering my room, the thought flashed
through my mind that, as Green was found there, it needed only the bare
suggestion that I had aided in his concealment, to direct toward me the
insane fury of the drunken mob.

"It is not safe to remain here." I said this to myself, with the
emphasis of a strong internal conviction.

Against this, my mind opposed a few feeble arguments; but the more I
thought of the matter, the more clearly did I become satisfied, that to
attempt to pass the night in that room was to me a risk it was not
prudent to assume.

So I went in search of Mrs. Slade, to ask her to have another room
prepared for me. But she was not in the house; and I learned, upon
inquiry, that since the murder of young Hammond, she had been suffering
from repeated hysterical and fainting fits, and was now, with her
daughter, at the house of a relative, whither she had been carried
early in the afternoon.

It was on my lip to request the chambermaid to give me another room;
but this I felt to be scarcely prudent, for if the popu