he house. All about me was silence, not even
the sound of a voice or the flap of a wing breaking the intense
stillness of the night. I almost imagined I heard the murmur of the
distant river, but this was probably the night breeze sighing through
the tree branches. I came below the veranda, still in the deep shadow,
utterly unconscious of any other presence, when suddenly, from just
above me, and certainly not six feet distant, a man spoke gruffly, the
unexpected sound of his strange voice interrupted by the sharp grate of
a chair's leg on the porch floor, and a half-smothered yawn.

"Say, Sheriff, how long are we all goin' ter set yere, do yer know?
This don't look much like Saint Louee afore daylight ter me."

I stopped still, crouching low, my heart leaping into my throat, and
every nerve tingling.

"No, it sure don't, Tim," replied another, and the fellow apparently
got down from off his perch on the porch rail. "Yer see Kirby is bound
he'll get hold o' them two missin' females furst, afore he'll let me
round up the niggers."

"But yer told him yer wouldn't round the niggers up, an' stow 'em away
in the boat."

"Not till I get service on the young lady. It wouldn't do no good."

"Whut's the idee?"

"Damned if I know exactly. All I know is whut I kin do accordin' ter
law, an' whut I can't. The papers is all straight 'nough, but they've
got ter be served afore we kin lay hands on a damned thing. The Jedge
tol' me fer ter do everything just as Kirby sed, an' I aim ter do it,
but just the same I got ter keep inside the law. I reckon thar's a
hitch sumwhar', but thet's none o' my business. Kirby is liberal
'nough with his money, an' I dunno as it makes much difference when we
strike the ol' town."

"'Tain't so much that, Sheriff. I kin stan' it fer ter be up all
night, but Bill wus tellin' me we might hav' som' trouble down ter the
Landin' unless we finished up our job yere afore mornin'."

"Oh, I reckon not; whut was it Bill said?"

"Quite a rigmarole frum furst ter last. Giv' me a light fer the pipe,
will yer?"

There was a flare above me, and then darkness once more, and then the
slow drawl of the man's voice as he resumed. "Some feller by the name
ov McAdoo, down ter Saint Louee, who's just com' down frum the lead
mines, tol' him thet Joe Kirby got all this yere property in a game o'
kyards on the boat, an' thet it wan't no square game either. I didn't
git it all straight, I reckon, but ac