forced--stranger, help the Riders, for in doing so you are helping the
poor people, the struggling millions. You are helping the widow and
orphans, you are helping those who must die of starvation unless the
fight is kept up a few more years. Tell them I died willingly for them,
that my heart is with them in my dying moments; that I shall carry the
burden to God; that I do not hesitate, have no fear, and tell my
father----"

The boy threw his head back, raised his breast, then fell to the earth
once more. Jack Wade raised the lad's head and placed it gently upon his
own limb, that he might remember he died there. The small bottle of
whiskey which Wade took out from town was still in his pocket and he
gave the boy of it to drink.

"I thought that was my last moment," said the boy, after sipping the
whiskey. "I feel quite relieved now. They are mean, stranger," he
continued, with a catching breath. "Those fellows will raise tobacco for
the trusts, and _must_ be handled severely. I do not regret my action, I
do not regret that my last act was to apply the torch to yon burning
building. No, I do not."

Here was an opportunity, Wade thought, to learn something of interest,
so he placed his lips close to the dying lad's ear and asked if he knew
John Redmond before he was killed.

"I knew him well," he replied, gasping for breath, "and he was the
grandest----"

The head fell limp, the boy breathed his last. Fred Conover was _dead_.

Immediately the surroundings took on a death-chamber appearance. Wade
removed his limb from beneath the dead boy's head and laid him gently
upon the cold, damp earth. Beside him was the carcass of the big black
horse which fell dead at the same time the boy went down. They were both
dead. The pall grew heavier. Wade raised himself, looked at the horse,
then into the deathly pale face of the boy, raising his head slowly
until he looked into the heavens, then said:

"O God, Thou great God, Thou hast, through thy mercy, saved me from this
awful deed."

He let his head drop again.

"That was a dog of a deed for an officer to commit," he said mentally.
"It was nothing but cold-blooded murder. Why did he not show himself and
make an effort to arrest, rather than do murder in this fashion, the
dirty coward!" said Wade, with a wave of his head. "You are free just
now, but freedom shall be taken from you for this night's ghastly work,
for this foul deed which has taken from earth all that was de