ural to time and place,
but he was in great earnest. Harry went on, and entered the office of
the Pendleton News, the little weekly newspaper which dispensed the news,
mostly personal, within a radius of fifty miles. He knew that the News
would appear on the following day, and he was anxious to learn what
Mr. Gardner, the editor, a friend of his, would have to say in his
columns.

He walked up the dusty stairway and entered the room, where the
editor sat amid piles of newspapers. Mr. Gardner was a youngish man,
high-colored and with longish hair. He was absorbed so deeply in a copy
of the Louisville Journal that he did not hear Harry's step or notice
his coming until the boy stood beside him. Then he looked up and said
dryly:

"Too many sparks make a blaze at last. If people keep on quarreling
there's bound to be a fight some time or other. I suppose you've heard
that South Carolina has seceded."

"Dr. Russell announced it at the school. Are you telling, Mr. Gardner,
what the News will have to say about it?"

"I don't mind," replied the editor, who was fond of Harry, and who liked
his alert mind. "If it comes to a breach, I'm going with my people.
It's hard to tell what's right or wrong, but my ancestors belonged to
the South and so do I."

"That's just the way I feel!" exclaimed Harry vehemently.

The editor smiled.

"But I don't intend to say so in the News tomorrow," he continued.
"I shall try to pour oil upon the waters, although I won't be able to
hide my Southern leanings. The Colonel, your father, Harry, will not
seek to conceal his."

"No," said Harry. "He will not. What was that?"

The sound of a shot came from the street. The two ran hurriedly down
the stairway. Three men were holding a fourth who struggled with them
violently. One had wrenched from his hand a pistol still smoking at the
muzzle. About twenty feet away was another man standing between two who
held him tightly, although he made no effort to release himself.

Harry looked at the two captives. They made a striking contrast.
The one who fought was of powerful build, and dressed roughly. His
whole appearance indicated the primitive human being, and Harry knew
immediately that he was one of the mountaineers who came long distances
to trade or carouse in Pendleton.

The man who faced the mountaineer, standing quietly between those who
held him, was young and slender, though tall. His longish black hair
was brushed car