erry Henderson
had no knowledge.

He walked to the bar, followed by one or two of his guardians, and
extended a general invitation. "Gentlemen, it's my treat. What will
you-all have?"

After the glasses had been filled and drained, Henderson went over and
stood for a while in the grateful warmth of the booming hearth. He was
looking on at this picture with its savor of medievalism--the ensemble
that called to mind a Hogarth prim, but soon he nodded to his guide who
slouched not far from his elbow.

"I reckon we'd better fare on, Mr. Blackwell," he suggested evenly.
"We've still got a journey ahead of us."

Blackwell seemed less impressed with the immediate urgency.

"Thar hain't no tormentin' haste," he demurred. "We're all right
stiff-j'inted from ridin'. We mout as well limber up a leetle mite
afore we starts out ergin."

Jerry's eyes clouded. He would have preferred finding a spirit of
readier obedience in his body-guard, but it was best to accept the
situation with philosophy. Accordingly he turned again to the bar,
though this time he made only a pretense of drinking. Fresh arrivals
had begun drifting in and the place now held more than a score. Among
them were already several whose voices were thickening or growing
shrill, according to their individual fashions of becoming drunk.

Jerry sought to reassure himself against the disquieting birth of
suspicion, yet when he heard one of the newcomers address Blackwell as
Sam instead of John, an ugly apprehension settled upon him and this
foreboding was not allayed as he caught the response in a low and
savage growl: "Shet up, ye fool!"

The temper of the motley outfit was rapidly growing boisterous, though
he himself seemed ignored until, in turning, he accidently jostled a
man whom he had never seen before to-night, and that individual wheeled
on him with an abusive truculence. Henderson's gorge rose, but his
realization was now fully awake to the requirement of self-control, so
with a good-natured retort he moved away.

Beckoning peremptorily to Blackwell, he started at a deliberate pace
toward the door, but before he reached it, the staggering figure of the
quarrelsome unknown overtook him and lurched drunkenly against him.
Then Henderson felt a stunning blow in the face, and under its
unexpected force he reeled back against the wall.

He was no longer in doubt. He had been beguiled here to be made the
victim of what should appear an accidental encounter