e boys, hang him up, if he won't tell," shouted one
of the gang. "Bring the rope," shouted another as he took hold of
Benton's arms.

Just at this juncture the leader of the mob suggested to Jake that if he
and his comrades would break up camp and leave the ground immediately,
they would not hang him, but would continue their search for the
Evangelist. To this Jake and the whole party of campers readily agreed.
In the light of the moon, the whole ground of campers, consisting of
more than a dozen families, hitched their teams to their wagons and made
their way over the hills homeward. Before any wagon was allowed to leave
the ground, it was carefully searched by the mob to ascertain whether or
not Evangelist Blank were there. He could not be found.

When old Brother Bunk and his family arrived at their home, which was
two miles from the campground. Sister Bunk and the Bunk children were
afraid to go into the house until Brother Bunk should unharness the team
and go with them. When the Bunk family came to the yard, they were
astonished to see in the moonlight somebody sitting under the old silver
poplar-tree. They were scared to say the least. Sister Bunk and the Bunk
children hovered closer and closer to Brother Bunk, while fear increased
as the distance to the poplar-tree decreased. Imagine their surprise and
relief when the person under the tree shouted, "Praise God, Brother
Bunk, many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth
them out of them all." It was Evangelist Blank. He explained to them
that he had walked the whole two miles from the camp through the woods,
guided by the sound of the wagon, thus avoiding the possibility of being
apprehended by the mob in case they should attack the wagon. He had
arrived at the Bunk farm about the same time as the wagon had, but not
having the inconvenience of a team to attend to, had sat down under the
tree to rest.

The mob naturally supposed that Evangelist Blank would somehow make his
way from the campground to Jake Benton's. Benton and his family arrived
home from the camp about three o'clock in the morning. They had been
there only half an hour when they were aroused by the shout of the mob,
who demanded that the preacher should be yielded up to them. Not until
they had thoroughly searched Benton's home would they believe Jake's
contention that Evangelist Blank was not on the premises. Finally, when
they were convinced that Benton could not or would