Gwinne.

He went to the cell--without remark concerning the key in the
lock--and set the prisoner free. His face kept a heavy seriousness;
there was no twinkle in his eye. Assailant and victim went arm in arm
down the hill.

* * * * *

Mr. Charlie See came softly to Hillsboro jail through the velvet
night. He did not come the front way; he came over the hill after a
wearisome detour. He approached the building on the blind side,
cautiously as any cat, and crouched to listen in the shadow of the
wall. After a little he began a slow voyage of discovery. At the rear
of the building a broad shaft of light swept out across the hill. This
was the kitchen. See heard Gwinne's heavy tread, and the cheerful
splutterings of beefsteak. Then he heard a dog within; a dog that
scratched at the door with mutter and whine.

"Down, Diogenes!" growled Gwinne; and raised his voice in a roaring
chorus:

"_And he sunk her in the lonesome lowland low--
And he sunk her in the lowland sea!_"

Charlie retraced his steps to the corner and the friendly shadows. He
crept down the long blank side of the jail, pausing from time to time
to listen; hearing nothing. He turned the corner to the other end. A
dim light showed from an unwindowed grating. The investigator stood on
a slope and the window place was high. Reaching up at full stretch, he
seized the bars with both hands, stepped his foot on an uneven stone
of the foundation, and so pulled himself up to peer in--and found
himself nose to nose with Johnny Dines.

The prisoner regarded his visitor without surprise.

"Good evening," he observed politely.

"Good eve--Oh, hell! Say, I ought to bite your nose off--you and your
good evening! Look here, fellow--are you loose in there?"

"Oh, yes. But the outer door's locked."

"Well, by gracious, you'd better be getting to thunder out of this!
You haven't a chance. You're a gone goose. You ought to hear the talk
I've heard round town. They're going to hang you by the neck!"

"Well, why not--if I did that?" inquired Johnny, reasonably enough.
They spoke in subdued undertones.

"But I know damn well you didn't do it."

The rescuer spoke with some irritation; he was still startled. Johnny
shook his head thoughtfully.

"The evidence was pretty strong--what I heard of it, anyhow."

"I guess, by heck, I know a frame-up when I see it. Say, what the hell
are you talking about? You wild ass of the dese