itself in the night.

Carrington took up his station on the flat roof of the cabin which
filled the stern of the boat. He was remembering that day in the sandy
Barony road--and during all the weeks and months that had intervened,
Murrell, working in secret, had moved steadily toward the fulfilment of
his desires! Unquestionably he had been back of the attack on Norton,
had inspired his subsequent murder, and the man's sinister and
mysterious power had never been suspected. Carrington knew that the
horse-thieves and slave stealers were supposed to maintain a loosely
knit association; he wondered if Murrell were not the moving spirit in
some such organization.

"If I'd only pushed my quarrel with him!" he thought bitterly.

He heard Slosson's shuffling step in the distance, a word or two when
he spoke gruffly to some one, and a moment later he saw Betty and the boy,
their forms darkly silhouetted against the lighter sky as they moved
along the top of the bank. Slosson, without any superfluous gallantry,
helped his captives down the slope and aboard the keel boat, where he
locked them in the cabin, the door of which fastened with a hasp and
wooden peg.

"You're boss now, pardner!" he said, joining Carrington at the steering
oar.

"We'll cast off then," answered Carrington.

Thus far nothing had occurred to mar his plans. If they could but quit
the bayou before the arrival of the man whose place he had taken, the
rest would be if not easy of accomplishment, at least within the realm
of the possible.

"I reckon you're a river-man?" observed Slosson.

"All my life."

The line had been cast off, and the crew with their setting poles were
forcing the boat away from the bank. All was quietly done; except for
an occasional order from Carrington no word was spoken, and soon the
unwieldy craft glided into the sluggish current and gathered way. Mr.
Slosson, who clearly regarded his relation to the adventure as being of
an official character, continued to stand at Carrington's elbow.

"What have we, between here and the river?" inquired the latter. It was
best, he felt, not to give Slosson an opportunity to ask questions.

"It narrows considerably, pardner, but it's a straight course," said
Slosson. "Black in yonder, ain't it?" he added, nodding ahead.

The shores drew rapidly together; they were leaving the lakelike expanse
behind. In the silence, above the rustling of the trees, Carrington
heard the first fret of 'th