d been fired. It had gone wide of its mark,--the
ringleader of the Vigilantes,--and had left Red Pete, who had fired
it, covered by their rifles and at their mercy. For his hand had been
cramped by hard riding, and his eye distracted by their sudden onset,
and so the inevitable end had come. He submitted sullenly to his
captors; his companion fugitive and horse-thief gave up the protracted
struggle with a feeling not unlike relief. Even the hot and revengeful
victors were content. They had taken their men alive. At any time during
the long chase they could have brought them down by a rifle shot, but it
would have been unsportsmanlike, and have ended in a free fight, instead
of an example. And, for the matter of that, their doom was already
sealed. Their end, by a rope and a tree, although not sanctified by law,
would have at least the deliberation of justice. It was the tribute paid
by the Vigilantes to that order which they had themselves disregarded in
the pursuit and capture. Yet this strange logic of the frontier sufficed
them, and gave a certain dignity to the climax.

"Ef you've got anything to say to your folks, say it NOW, and say it
quick," said the ringleader.

Red Pete glanced around him. He had been run to earth at his own cabin
in the clearing, whence a few relations and friends, mostly women and
children, non-combatants, had outflowed, gazing vacantly at the twenty
Vigilantes who surrounded them. All were accustomed to scenes of
violence, blood-feud, chase, and hardship; it was only the suddenness of
the onset and its quick result that had surprised them. They looked on
with dazed curiosity and some disappointment; there had been no fight
to speak of--no spectacle! A boy, nephew of Red Pete, got upon the
rain-barrel to view the proceedings more comfortably; a tall, handsome,
lazy Kentucky girl, a visiting neighbor, leaned against the doorpost,
chewing gum. Only a yellow hound was actively perplexed. He could
not make out if a hunt were just over or beginning, and ran eagerly
backwards and forwards, leaping alternately upon the captives and the
captors.

The ringleader repeated his challenge. Red Pete gave a reckless laugh
and looked at his wife.

At which Mrs. Red Pete came forward. It seemed that she had much to say,
incoherently, furiously, vindictively, to the ringleader. His soul would
roast in hell for that day's work! He called himself a man, skunkin'
in the open and afraid to show himself except