recoiling suddenly from the man at his side.

"I am the new United States Marshal for the Southern District of
California."

CHAPTER III.

Unsuspected and astounding as the revelation was to Clarence, its
strange reception by the conspirators seemed to him as astounding.
He had started forward, half expecting that the complacent and
self-confessed spy would be immolated by his infuriated dupes. But to
his surprise the shock seemed to have changed their natures, and given
them the dignity they had lacked. The excitability, irritation, and
recklessness which had previously characterized them had disappeared.
The deputy and his posse, who had advanced to the assistance of their
revealed chief, met with no resistance. They had evidently, as if with
one accord, drawn away from Judge Beeswinger, leaving a cleared space
around him, and regarded their captors with sullen contemptuous silence.
It was only broken by Colonel Starbottle:--

"Your duty commands you, sir, to use all possible diligence in bringing
us before the Federal judge of this district--unless your master in
Washington has violated the Constitution so far as to remove him, too!"

"I understand you perfectly," returned Judge Beeswinger, with unchanged
composure; "and as you know that Judge Wilson unfortunately cannot be
removed except through a regular course of impeachment, I suppose you
may still count upon his Southern sympathies to befriend you. With that
I have nothing to do; my duty is complete when my deputy has brought you
before him and I have stated the circumstances of the arrest."

"I congratulate you, sir," said Captain Pinckney, with an ironical
salute, "on your prompt reward for your treachery to the South, and your
equally prompt adoption of the peculiar tactics of your friends in the
way in which you have entered this house."

"I am sorry I cannot congratulate YOU, sir," returned Judge Beeswinger
gravely, "on breaking your oath to the government which has educated and
supported you and given you the epaulettes you disgrace. Nor shall I
discuss 'treachery' with the man who has not only violated the trust of
his country, but even the integrity of his friend's household. It is for
that reason that I withhold the action of this warrant in so far as
it affects the persons of the master and mistress of this home. I am
satisfied that Mr. Brant has been as ignorant of what has been done
here as I am that his wife has been only the fooli