crime did you break into this jail and drag out the
fellow you are after and string him to a limb. What good would it do? I
know what the Bible says--'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth'
and 'Whosoever sheddeth man's blood by man shall his blood be shed.' But
let the law do it, men. If you do this thing you will be as lawless and
as guilty as that cringing thing back there in its cell. You would
deserve his fate! Let us not behave as barbarians. Don't make the
records of our State blacker than they are. I'm not here to fight. I
know you can overcome me. Accident alone apprised me of what was going
forward tonight, and I've come here to try and show you where you're
wrong. Don't let tomorrow's papers tell the news to the civilized world
that down in Kentucky a mob trespassed the law and hung a prisoner by
night! It's been done too often already. We're good people, but our
blood runs hot, and we're hasty. We act first, and think after, which is
wrong. You haven't thought this thing over. Somebody started it and you
fell in with the plan. Go home now, and go to bed, and in the morning
you'll thank God that your consciences are clear!"

For a moment there was a tense silence, broken only by the low groans of
the suffering negro.

"He shot Dick Goodloe, and he's got to die! Dick was my friend!"

It was the ringleader speaking, dogged and unpersuaded.

John leaned forward suddenly, and looked at the man.

"Is the marshal dead?" he asked.

"He wasn't dead half an hour ago, but he was mighty low," came a voice
from the darkness.

"There!" exclaimed John, triumphantly, standing erect. "You have no sort
of right to take this man now! You shall not hang him! I'll make a
compact with you, gentlemen--fellow citizens! Send at once to the home
of Dick Goodloe. If he is dead, I'll find you the keys, and step aside.
If he lives, you are to go home and leave this jail unmolested. Do you
agree?"

Various voices expressed assent to the plan, and even the ringleader
nodded acquiescence, without speaking.

A messenger was accordingly dispatched at once, a youth with nimble
legs, who started on a run. During the period of waiting the men were
quiet, though some conversed in low tones. No one paid any attention to
the wounded negro, who attempted to drag himself away, but found the
effort so painful that he gave it up. In a short time the messenger
returned with his news. Goodloe was sleeping, and Doctor Kale said that
his c