"I"d be much obliged if you would." Westerfelt turned his face away.
There was a moment"s pause. The man waited for the horse"s head to become still. Then he fired.
"Thanks," said Westerfelt. He looked round at the crowd, wondering which of the men could be Toot Wambush. He had an idea that he had not yet spoken, and was not among those nearest to him. Through the open door he could see Washburn"s lantern moving about in the stable.
"Hurry up in thar," cried a tall figure. "Do you think we"re gwine to--" He began to cough.
"How do you like to chaw cotton, Number Six?" a man near him asked.
"The blamed lint gits down my throat," was the reply. "I"d ruther be knowed by my voice"n to choke to death on sech truck."
From far and near on all sides came the dismal barking of dogs, but the villagers, if they suspected what was being enacted, dared not show their faces. Washburn led a horse through the crowd and gave the bridle to Westerfelt. He hesitated, as if about to speak, and then silently withdrew. Westerfelt mounted. The leader gave the order, and the gang moved back towards the mountain. Two hors.e.m.e.n went before Westerfelt and two fell behind. As they pa.s.sed the shop, dimly he saw the form of a woman lying on the ground just out of the moonlight that fell in at the door. Harriet had swooned. When they had gone past the shop, Westerfelt reined in his horse and called over his shoulder to Washburn, who stood in front of the stable. He would not leave her lying there if he could help it, and yet he did not want Wambush to know she had warned him. The gang stopped, and Washburn came to them.
"Any directions you want to give?" he asked of Westerfelt.
"I saw you looking for the account-book," answered Westerfelt, staring significantly into his eyes. "I was in the blacksmith"s shop to-day and left it on the forge."
Washburn stared blankly at him for an instant, then he said, slowly, "All right."
"You"d better get it to-night," added Westerfelt.
"All right, sir. I"ll attend to everything."
"Cool as a cuc.u.mber," laughed a man. "Next thing you know he"ll give orders "bout whar he wants to be buried, an" what to have cut on his grave-rock."
The whole gang laughed at this witticism, and started on again. When they had gone about a hundred yards Westerfelt glanced back. He saw Washburn cross the road and enter the blacksmith"s shop, and the next instant the shop was hidden by a sudden turn in the road. They pa.s.sed the meeting-house and began to ascend the mountain. Here and there along the dark range shone the red fires of chestnut harvesters. The blue smoke hung among the pines, and the air was filled with the odor of burning leaves. They pa.s.sed a camp--a white-covered wagon, filled with bags of chestnuts, two mules tethered to saplings, and three or four forms in dusky blankets lying round a log fire. As the weird procession pa.s.sed, the mules drew back on their halters and threw their ears forward, but the bodies at the fire did not stir.
In about twenty minutes the band reached a plateau covered with a matting of heather. They went across it to the edge of a high precipice. It was as perpendicular as a wall. Below lay the valley, its forests of pines and cedars looking like a black lake in the clear moonlight.
"Git down, men, an" let"s "tend to business an" go back home,"
commanded the leader. "I have a hankerin" atter a hot breakfast."
Everybody alighted except Westerfelt. The leader touched him with his whip. "Will you git down, or do you want to be drug off like a saddle?"
"May I ask what you intend to do with me?" asked Westerfelt, indifferently.
The leader laughed. "Put some turkey red calico stripes on that broad back o" yorn, an" rub in some salt and pepper to cuore it up. We are a-gwine to l"arn you that new settlers cayn"t run this community an"
coolly turn the bluecoats agin us mount"in folks."
Westerfelt looked down on the masks upturned to him. Only one of the band showed a revolver. Westerfelt believed him to be Toot Wambush.
He had not spoken a word, but was one of the two that had ridden close behind him up the mountain. One of the white figures unstrapped a pillow from the back part of his saddle. He held it between his knees and gashed it with a knife.
"By hunkey! they"re white uns," he grunted, as he took out a handful.
"I "lowed they wus mixed; ef my ole woman knowed I"d tuck a poke uv "er best goose feathers ter dab on a man she"d get a divorce."
Two or three laughed behind their masks. Another laugh went round as a short figure returned from the bushes with a bucket of tar which had been left near the road-side.
"Heer"s yore gumstick.u.m." He dipped a paddle in it and flourished it before Westerfelt, who was still on his horse. "Say, mister, you don"t seem inclined to say anything fer yorese"f; the last man we dressed out fer his weddin" begged like a whipped child, an" made no end o"
promises uv good behavior."
Westerfelt got down from his horse. "I"m completely in your power," he replied. "I won"t beg any man nor gang of men living to give me my rights. I suppose I am accused of having reported those fellows to the revenue men. I have simply to say that it is a lie!"
"Uh, uh!" said the leader; "_care_ful! _care_ful! Don"t be reckless.
We uns ain"t the lyin" sort."
"I say it"s a lie!" Westerfelt stared straight into the mask of Toot Wambush. The wearer of it started and half raised his revolver, but quickly concealed it under the sheet that hung below his waist.
Everybody was silent, as if they expected a reply from Wambush, but he made none.
"Them pore Cohutta men lyin" in the Atlanta jail said so, anyway,"
returned the leader. "They ain"t heer to speak fer the"rse"ves; it"s a easy thing to give them the lie behind the"r backs."
"They were mistaken, that"s all," said Westerfelt. "n.o.body but the revenue men themselves could tell the whole truth about it. I did pa.s.s the wagon--"
"An" eavedropped on our two men. Oh, we know you did, kase they heerd a sound, an" then as you didn"t come for"ard, they "lowed they had made a mistake, but when you finally did pa.s.s they knowed it wus you, an"
that you"d been listenin"."
"That"s the truth," admitted Westerfelt. "I had been warned that it would be dangerous for me to go about in the mountains alone. I heard the men talking, and stopped to find out who they were. I did not want to run into an ambush. As soon as I found out who they were I spoke to them and pa.s.sed."
"At the stable, though, young man," reminded the leader--"at the stable, when the bluecoats fetched the prisoners an" the plunder in, they told you that they"d found them right whar you said they wus."
"You bet he did. What"s the use a-jabberin" any longer?" The voice was unmistakably Wambush"s, and his angry tones seemed to fire the impatience of the others. Westerfelt started to speak, but his words were drowned in a tumult of voices.
"Go ahead!" cried several.
"Go ahead! Are you gwine to hold a court an" try "im by law?" asked Wambush, hotly. "I "lowed that point was done settled."
Westerfelt calmly folded his arms. "I"ve no more to say. I see I"m not going to be heard. You are a gang of cold-blooded murderers."
The words seemed to anger the leader.
"Shuck off that coat an" shirt!" was his order.
Westerfelt did not move. "I"m glad to say I"m not afraid of you," he said. "If you have got human hearts in you, though, you"ll kill me, and not let me live after the degradation you are going to inflict. I know who"s led you to this. It is a cowardly dog who never had a thing against me till I refused to let him have credit at my stable, when he owes an account that"s been running for two years. He tried to kill me with a pistol and a knife when I was unarmed. He failed, and had to get you to help him. You are not a bit better than he is. I"m no coward. I"ve got fighting blood in me. Some of you"d acknowledge it if I was to tell you who my father was. I have reason to believe there are men here to-night who fought side by side with him in the war, and were with him when he was shot down tryin" to hold up the flag at the battle of Chickamauga. One of the dirty cowards he once carried off the field when the whelp could hardly walk with a bullet in his leg!"
"What company wus that?" came from the edge of the crowd. The voice was quivering.
"Forty-second Georgia."
For a moment no one spoke, then the same voice asked:
"Who wus your pa, young man?"
"Captain Alfred Stone Westerfelt, under Colonel Mills."
The tall slender figure of the questioner leaned forward breathlessly and then pushed into the ring. Without a word he stood near Westerfelt, unpinned the sheet that was round him, and slowly took off his mask. Then he put a long forefinger into his mouth, pried a wad of cotton out of each cheek, and threw them on the ground.
It was old Jim Hunter. He cleared his throat, spat twice, wiped his mouth with his hand, and slowly swept the circle with his eyes.
"I"m the feller he toted out," he said. He cleared his throat again, and went on: