hat you doin' here, sah?" the black keeper railed. "Ain't I done tole
you 'bout runnin' away?"

"You let him alone," Marion cried.

The negro pushed her roughly from his side and knocked Sam down. The girl
screamed for help, and old Stoneman hobbled down the steps, following
Elsie.

When they reached the gate, Marion was bending over the prostrate form.

"Oh, my, my, I believe he's killed him!" she wailed.

"Run for the doctor, sonny, quick," Stoneman said to Hugh. The boy darted
away and brought Dr. Cameron.

"How dare you strike that man, you devil?" thundered the old statesman.

"'Case I tole 'im ter stay home en do de wuk I put 'im at, en he all de
time runnin' off here ter git somfin' ter eat. I gwine frail de life outen
'im, ef he doan min' me."

"Well, you make tracks back to the Poorhouse. I'll attend to this man, and
I'll have you arrested for this before night," said Stoneman, with a
scowl.

The black keeper laughed as he left.

"Not 'less you'se er bigger man dan Gubner Silas Lynch, you won't!"

When Dr. Cameron had restored Sam, and dressed the wound on his head where
he had struck a stone in falling, Stoneman insisted that the boy be put to
bed.

Turning to Dr. Cameron, he asked:

"Why should they put a brute like this in charge of the poor?"

"That's a large question, sir, at this time," said the doctor politely,
"and now that you have asked it, I have some things I've been longing for
an opportunity to say to you."

"Be seated, sir," the old Commoner answered, "I shall be glad to hear
them."

Elsie's heart leaped with joy over the possible outcome of this appeal,
and she left the room with a smile for the doctor.

"First, allow me," said the Southerner pleasantly, "to express my sorrow
at your long illness, and my pleasure at seeing you so well. Your children
have won the love of all our people and have had our deepest sympathy in
your illness."

Stoneman muttered an inaudible reply, and the doctor went on:

"Your question brings up, at once, the problem of the misery and
degradation into which our country has sunk under negro rule----"

Stoneman smiled coldly and interrupted:

"Of course, you understand my position in politics, Doctor Cameron--I am a
Radical Republican."

"So much the better," was the response. "I have been longing for months to
get your ear. Your word will be all the more powerful if raised in our
behalf. The negro is the master of our State, county, city, an