d rifle, were mounting horses; and in town the sheriff
was lifting a bloodhound to his buggy.

With a silent hand-clasp Jane passed into the house, but Brent waited
for a word with Bob.

"The fellow must be quite crazy," he told this young planter, "so you
ought to stay here with the girls. I'll meet the others, and tell you
about it later."

Reaching the pike he drove hurriedly and was the first to arrive at
their prearranged meeting-place. This was a hollow, where a little
stream crossed--the place Tusk usually turned off after leaving Tom's
house, and the scene of an earlier struggle. He got out of the buggy and
carefully scanned the ground, flashing the same electric torch which had
played a part here once before; smiling, despite his soberness, when he
came to a patch of violently torn up sod ten feet from the spot where,
evidently, Jane's horse had fallen. Here, he knew, Mac had made his
gallant stand, desisting only after his instinct told him Jane had fled
to safety.

There was little talking when the others came. The sheriff lifted his
bloodhound to the ground, and the mild eyes of this heavy dewlapped
creature looked confidently up at them, waiting to be told what human
atom of the millions over the earth he must bring to justice. This was
all he asked to know; so when Jess held out the handle of Tusk's
discarded club, he sniffed it carefully and was satisfied. A low whine
assured them that the man-hunter had now an imperishable record of the
scent; that he was ready to follow it across the State, around the
world--providing the pursued one used no pepper or other mean artifice,
and traveled by foot on land.

The men tied their horses, for this chase must be followed warily--nor
could horses go where a hunted man might venture. Jess led, holding the
leash strained by the hound's impatience. Silently the others followed
into the black wood, and all was quiet save for the occasional snapping
of a dead branch;--this hound having been too well taught to allow
himself the joy of baying, except in rare situations. He knew the chase,
and he knew the value of keeping his quarry unwarned.

But in half an hour the old Colonel was breathing hard. He had not been
accustomed to walking through wild places at night, and it was this
increasing fatigue, this undertaking of a trial beyond his strength,
which seriously handicapped the party. Had he more wisely remained at
home, the others might have pressed Tusk before h