t deadly tensity of voice. "Steady
yoreself, man, an' construe what ye means!"

Hump Doane had shaken off his torpor now and stood trembling under all
the furies of repressed years. His words came in a torrent of vehemence
that could not be stemmed, and they mounted like gathering winds.

"I've preached peace day in an' day out.... I've striven ter keep
hit ... an' I knows I did aright ... but this day I'm goin' ter stultify
myself an' kill a man ... an' when I finishes him, I'm going ter keep
right on till I'm either kilt myself or gits all them thet's accountable
fer _this_!" He paused, breathing in gasps, then rushed on again:
"I trusted Bas Rowlett ... I believed in him ... some weeks back I
l'arned some things erbout him thet shocked me sore, but still I held
my hand ... waitin' ter counsel with _you_ atter yore baby hed been
borned."

"What war hit ye l'arned, Hump?" The younger man's voice was almost
inaudibly low, and the answer came like volley-firing with words.

"Hit war Bas thet hired ye laywayed.... Hit war Bas thet egged Sam
Opdyke on ter kill ye.... Hit war Bas thet sent word over inter Virginny
ter betray ye ter ther law.... Hit war Bas thet shot through old Jim's
hat ter make a false appearance an' foment strife.... Hit war Bas thet
stirred men up ter organizin' ther riders ... an' used my boy fer a
catspaw!"

"Listen, man!" Parish Thornton was breathing his words through lips that
scarcely moved as he bent forward with the tautness of a coiled spring.
"I knowed Bas Rowlett hired me shot ... but we'd done pledged ourselves
ter settle thet betwixt us.... I held my hand because of ther oath I
give ye when we made ther truce ... but these other things, I hain't
nuver even dremp' of ther like afore. Does ye know aught more of him?"

"I knows thet whilst ye war away in Virginny he went over an' sought ter
make love ter yore wife ... an' she come nigh killin' him fer hit ...
but she feared fer bloodshed ef she bore thet tale ter _you_."

The old man paused, and Parish Thornton made no answer in words, but
between his lips the breath ran out with the hiss of sobbing waters.

"I kain't prove none of them things in law," went on Hump, and his eyes
travelled back to the hideous fascination of the sheeted body, "yit I
knows, in my heart, every one of 'em's true--an' thet's enough fer me.
Now I'm goin' ter be my own law!"

The cripple turned and walked unsteadily to the corner of the room, and
from its pl