t achin' fur that opportunity, but
I'll see that you don't git it. Now you set down here an' wait."

"You may riprisent the law," said Jasper to the officers, "but she
stands for suthin' that's higher than all law--woman, an' I reckon
you'll have to knock under."

And they did, waiting patiently for Margaret as she bestirred herself in
the kitchen; and when they went in and viewed the neatness of the meal,
they thanked her and fell to with the appetite of soldiers. They had
eaten and were thanking her when they heard the wagon rumbling down the
hill. Margaret began to whimper, but the old man laughed at her; and
when the two men respectfully turned away to give the prisoner and his
wife a word together, he said to her:

"For a long time, as you know, this thing has been a hangin' over me,
like a cloud ready to shoot out its lightenin', an' I am thankful that
it's about over with. You stay here an' be brave, an' I'll be back all
right. Send word by somebody to Old Miz Barker, an' she'll be tickled to
come an' stay with you an' talk till she makes you feel that they air
goin' to hang me."

"If you _was_ a goin' to be hung, Jasper, you'd fret me with it. I don't
believe there's harm in these here men. They didn't hand-cuff you,
that's a fact. An' jest see how they eat! I ain't afeared of no man that
eats well at my table. So, now you go on an' do the best you kin, an'
don't worry about me."

He put his arms about her and kissed her on the forehead, and even when
it was announced that the wagon was waiting, she did not waver, but
bravely stood to her determination.

The wagon drove off and Margaret lingered in the door, gazing; but
Jasper did not look back, and so, over the hill he passed from her
sight, as all things else had passed, for in the blindness of her tears
it was as if dark night had fallen. She turned about and in her ears his
words rang, and again strong-set to be brave, the misty night was winked
away. Hearing the hum of the old negro's tuneful spirit, she called him
and he came to the door.

"Kintchin, they have taken Jasper."

"Yas'm, an' da've tuck Lije Peters, too."

"Why, Jasper said he wasn't goin'."

"He ain't--he's gone. I was a hidin' in de bushes an' I seed Peters wid
his knife, an' I seed er man way up an' den er man way down--wid blood
spurtin' up. An' da tuck him home in er wagin; an' de folks dat wan't
right well 'quainted wid him befo' ain't gwine know him now, fur he
ain't got no