od's sake go, until things are quiet!"

"But I tell you I'll face it. I'm not afraid," said Phil quietly.

"No, but I am," urged Ben. "These two hundred negroes are armed and drunk.
Their officers may not be able to control them, and they may lay their
hands on you--go--go!--go!--you must go! The train is due in fifteen
minutes."

He half lifted him on a horse tied behind the hotel, leaped on another,
galloped to the flag-station two miles out of town, and put him on the
north-bound train.

"Stay in Charlotte until I wire for you," was Ben's parting injunction.

He turned his horse's head for McAllister's, sent the two boys with all
speed to the Cyclops of each of the ten township Dens with positive orders
to disregard all wild rumours from Piedmont and keep every man out of town
for two days.

As he rode back he met a squad of mounted white regulars, who arrested
him. The trooper's companion had sworn positively that he was the man who
killed the negro.

Within thirty minutes he was tried by drum-head court-martial and
sentenced to be shot.

CHAPTER VII

THE SNARE OF THE FOWLER

Sweet was the secret joy of old Stoneman over the fate of Ben Cameron. His
death sentence would strike terror to his party, and his prompt execution,
on the morning of the election but two days off, would turn the tide, save
the State, and rescue his daughter from a hated alliance.

He determined to bar the last way of escape. He knew the Klan would
attempt a rescue, and stop at no means fair or foul short of civil war.
Afraid of the loyalty of the white battalions quartered in Piedmont, he
determined to leave immediately for Spartanburg, order an exchange of
garrisons, and, when the death warrant was returned from headquarters,
place its execution in the hands of a stranger, to whom appeal would be
vain. He knew such an officer in the Spartanburg post, a man of fierce,
vindictive nature, once court-martialed for cruelty, who hated every
Southern white man with mortal venom. He would put him in command of the
death watch.

He hired a fast team and drove across the county with all speed, doubly
anxious to get out of town before Elsie discovered the tragedy and
appealed to him for mercy. Her tears and agony would be more than he could
endure. She would stay indoors on account of the crowds, and he would not
be missed until evening, when safely beyond her reach.

When Phil arrived at Charlotte he found an immense crowd at t