o
solve, and I could only act on impulse, or as guided by these new
conditions. Beyond all question, those I had hoped to serve were
already aware of their position--someone had reached them before
me--and two, at least, were already in hiding. Why the third, the one
most deeply involved, had failed to accompany the others, could not be
comprehended. The mystery only made my present task more difficult.
Could the others have fled and deliberately left her to her fate? Had
some mistake been made? or had some accident led to their absence, and
her falling into the inhuman clutches of Kirby? Why should Delia, the
slave, disappear in company with Eloise, the free, and leave her own
daughter Rene behind to face a situation more terrible than death? I
could not answer these questions; but, whatever the cause, the result
had been the complete overthrow of the gambler's carefully prepared
plans. Not that I believed he would hesitate for long, law or no law;
but Donaldson, the sheriff, refused to be a party to any openly illegal
act, and this would for the present tie the fellow's hands. Not until
Miss Eloise was found and duly served with the eviction papers would
Donaldson consent to take possession of a single slave. This might
still give me time for action.

Kirby, angry and baffled, could rave and threaten; but to no end.
Whether this condition of affairs had been attained as a result of
legal advice, or through a mere accident, made no difference; the
present inability to reach the daughter of the Judge--the legal heiress
to his estate--completely blocked the conspiracy. Yet Kirby was not
the kind to surrender without a fight, and a desperate one; all that
was savagely brutal in the man had been aroused by this check. The
very sound of his voice indicated his intention--he proposed to drive,
with a whip if necessary, the helpless girl in his power to a full
confession. She was his slave, his chattel, and, under the influence
of ungoverned passion, he was capable of any degree of cruelty to
attain his end. I knew--seemed to realize--all this in an instant, and
as swiftly decided to risk life if need be in her defense. There was
at that moment no thought in my mind of her stain of negro blood; she
was not a slave to me, but merely a woman helpless and alone, fronting
dishonor and degradation.

I slipped along in the shadow of the house, without definite plan of
action, but with a firm purpose to act. The sid