nductor of the accommodation--was with
her.

They seemed to feel that they could camp in the hospital halls and
corridors, and they were an incalculable worry to the authorities. More
came on every train, and nearly all brought flowers, and jelly, and
chickens for preparing broth, and they insisted that the two latter
delicacies be fed to the patient at once. Meredith was possessed by an
unaccountable responsibility for them all, and invited a great many to
stay at his own house. They were still in ignorance of the truth about
the Cross-Roads, and some of them spent the day (it was Sunday) in
planning an assault upon the Rouen jail for the purpose of lynching
Slattery in case Harkless's condition did not improve at once. Those who
had heard his statement kept close mouths until the story appeared
in full in the Rouen papers on Monday morning; but by that time every
member of the Cross-Roads White-Caps was lodged in the Rouen jail with
Slattery. Homer and a heavily armed posse rode over to the muddy corners
on Sunday night, and the sheriff discovered that he might have taken the
Skilletts and Johnsons single-handed and unarmed. Their nerve was
gone; they were shaken and afraid; and, to employ a figure somewhat
inappropriate to their sullen, glad surrender, they fell upon his neck
in their relief at finding the law touching them. They had no wish to
hear "John Brown's Body" again. They wanted to get inside of a strong
jail, and to throw themselves on the mercy of the court as soon as
possible. And those whom Harkless had not recognized delayed not to give
themselves up; they did not desire to remain in Six-Cross-Roads. Bob
Skillett, Force Johnson, and one or two others needed the care of a
physician badly, and one man was suffering from a severely wrenched
back. Homer had a train stopped at a crossing, so that his prisoners
need not be taken through Plattville, and he brought them all safely
to Rouen. Had there chanced any one to ride through the deserted
Cross-Roads the next morning, passing the trampled fields and the
charred ruins of the two shanties to the east, and listening to the
lamentations of the women and children, he would have declared that at
last the old score had been paid, and that Six-Cross-Roads was wiped
out.

The Carlow folks were deeply impressed with the two eminent surgeons,
of whom some of them had heard, and on Tuesday, the bulletins marking
considerable encouragement, most of them decided to t