's the man you want to deal
with!"

Before the words had left his mouth three or four shadowy forms had
detached themselves from the group and run to the front door of the
jailer's residence, which connected with the prison proper, only a wall
intervening. They thumped, and pounded, and called, forgetting caution
in their untrained zeal. They gained no response, and, fearing to force
an entrance there, returned to their friends, baffled.

"Knock 'im down! Git 'im out o' the way!" The cries came again from the
rear.

"You've told Bill we were coming," said the man who had formerly spoken,
"and he's run off, or hidden. We can't waste time. Stand down! We are
armed, and you will suffer if you resist!"

"Wouldn't you rather have the keys?" asked John, simply, "than to run
the risk of bringing the citizens who love order about your ears? You
can't force that door without dynamite."

"How can we get the keys when we can't get Bill?" demanded the
spokesman, led on to conversation in spite of his haste by the
apparently ingenuous frankness of the man before him.

"Bill gave them to me," answered John, naturally, "not ten minutes ago."

"Then you have them? Pass them over, please, at once, or we shall be
compelled to take them from you by force."

"I haven't them now."

"You're fooling with us!" retorted the man, angrily. "For the last time,
get out of the way!"

"I'm not fooling you! I had the keys in my hand, but I have lost them.
They are not on my person."

"To hell wid you 'n' de keys bofe!" exclaimed a burly form standing well
back in the shadows, and with that it made a rush. The figure was to one
side; there was no one else in line. Swiftly John raised the revolver in
his right hand, and fired low. His wish was only to cripple, and he
succeeded. The man dropped with a howl of pain and fright, and his mask
fell off, revealing the face of a brutal looking negro. He sat up and
nursed his shattered knee, and mouthed curses.

"Shame on you, men of Macon!" cried Glenning, standing erect and pale
under the flickering light of the iron sconce. "Do you bring such a
thing as _that_ with you to hang a white man, however low?"

"Nobody told 'im to come!" called a voice. "He hooked on!"

"Listen to me a minute, men!" resumed Glenning, speaking very earnestly,
"Most of you don't realize what you want to do tonight. You've come out
to commit murder. Do you know that--murder! Every man among you would be
guilty of that