agony of terror. Vincent's question, "Dinah, where
are you?" was answered by a scream of delight; and Dinah, who had been
covering her child with her body, leaped to her feet.

"It's all right, Dinah," Vincent said; "but stay here, we haven't
finished this business yet."

"I fancy the old man's upstairs," one of the men said. "It was his
rifle, I reckon, that disappeared when we fired."

It was as he expected. Porter was found dead behind the loophole, a
bullet having passed through his brain. The deputy sheriff, who was with
the party, now took the command. A cart and horse were found in an
out-building; in these the wounded man, who was one of those who had
taken part in the abduction of Dinah, was placed, together with the
female prisoner and the dead body of the sheriff. The negroes were told
to follow; and the horses having been fetched, the party mounted and
rode off to the next village, five miles on their way back. Here they
halted for the night, and the next day they went on to Marion
Courthouse, Vincent hiring a cart for the conveyance of Dinah and the
other women. It was settled that Vincent's attendance at the trial of
the two prisoners would not be necessary, as the man would be tried for
armed resistance to the law, and the woman for murdering the sheriff.
The facts could be proved by other witnesses, and as there could be no
doubt about obtaining convictions, it would be unnecessary to try the
charge against the man for kidnaping. Next day, accordingly, Vincent
started with Dinah and Dan for Richmond. Two months afterward he saw in
the paper that Jane Matheson had been sentenced to imprisonment for
life, the man to fourteen years.

CHAPTER XVII.

CHANCELLORSVILLE.

The news of the fight between the sheriff's posse and the band at
Lynch's Creek was telegraphed to the Richmond papers by their local
agent upon the day after it occurred. The report said that Captain
Wingfield, a young officer who had frequently distinguished himself, had
followed the traces of a gang one of whom was a notorious criminal who
had evaded the pursuit of the law and escaped from that section fifteen
years ago, and had, under an assumed name, been acting as overseer at
Mrs. Wingfield's estate of the Orangery. These men had carried off a
negress belonging to Mrs. Wingfield, and had taken her South. Captain
Wingfield, having obtained the assistance of the sheriff with a posse of
determined men, rode to the place which