ethren," he said, "to accuse the black brute about to appear
of the crime of assault on a daughter of the South----"

A murmur of thrilling surprise and horror swept the crowd of
white-and-scarlet figures as with one common impulse they moved closer.

"His feet have been measured and they exactly tally with the negro tracks
found under the window of the Lenoir cottage. His flight to Columbia and
return on the publication of their deaths as an accident is a confirmation
of our case. I will not relate to you the scientific experiment which
first fixed my suspicion of this man's guilt. My witness could not confirm
it, and it might not be to you credible. But this negro is peculiarly
sensitive to hypnotic influence. I propose to put him under this power
to-night before you, and, if he is guilty, I can make him tell his
confederates, describe and rehearse the crime itself."

The Night Hawks led Gus before Doctor Cameron, untied his hands, removed
the gag, and slipped the blindfold from his head.

Under the doctor's rigid gaze the negro's knees struck together, and he
collapsed into complete hypnosis, merely lifting his huge paws lamely as
if to ward a blow.

They seated him on the boulder from which the Cyclops rose, and Gus stared
about the cave and grinned as if in a dream seeing nothing.

The doctor recalled to him the day of the crime, and he began to talk to
his three confederates, describing his plot in detail, now and then
pausing and breaking into a fiendish laugh.

Old McAllister, who had three lovely daughters at home, threw off his cap,
sank to his knees, and buried his face in his hands, while a dozen of the
white figures crowded closer, nervously gripping the revolvers which hung
from their red belts.

Doctor Cameron pushed them back and lifted his hand in warning.

The negro began to live the crime with fearful realism--the journey past
the hotel to make sure the victims had gone to their home; the visit to
Aunt Cindy's cabin to find her there; lying in the field waiting for the
last light of the village to go out; gloating with vulgar exultation over
their plot, and planning other crimes to follow its success--how they
crept along the shadows of the hedgerow of the lawn to avoid the
moonlight, stood under the cedar, and through the open windows watched the
mother and daughter laughing and talking within----

"Min' what I tells you now--Tie de ole one, when I gib you de rope," said
Gus in a whisper.