se guarding the swamp should be in hearing of his voice by the time
he reaches Anvil Rock. I told him so; but he said that it must be done
by some one man, since more than one would defeat our whole undertaking,
and that it was the duty of no one but himself. However, he has ordered
all his men--the different posses sent out in various directions--to
draw in toward Anvil Rock, so that he will not be there long alone, and
not at any time beyond the hearing of his men, should he find it
necessary to call for help. Anyway, I couldn't dissuade him from going
alone. It was no more than General Jackson had done, he declared, when I
protested; and he also thought that being alone made it unlikely that he
would be observed. The main object was for him to be near by when his
men should need him, and that purpose would be best served by his
waiting in the shadow of Anvil Rock. I said what I could, and urged him
to let me go with him, but he stuck to it that only one man must go."
The judge spoke anxiously, wearily now, all anger forgotten. "And he
will be there. He never knew what fear was, in doing his duty; he would
walk straight into the devil's den and attack him single-handed, without
the quiver of a nerve."

"Allow me to congratulate you, sir," William Pressley said distantly,
with an air of polite concession to somewhat foolish enthusiasm. "I
think you have perhaps been rather more troubled over certain outbreaks
of lawlessness than you need have been. They are to be expected, I
suppose, in all new countries, and they gradually disappear before the
advance of civilization, as Mr. Alston says. All that is in the natural
order of human events. However, since you have been so much disturbed, I
am truly pleased that you are so soon to be relieved of all uneasiness
from this source. May I ask, sir, if you can tell me the precise date of
the attorney-general's departure--for the seat of war, I mean--for
Tippecanoe?"

The judge shook his head, hardly hearing the inquiry. The agitation
which had shaken him was leaving him greatly spent. The old look of
abstraction came back, quickly dulling his gaze, and, sinking down in
his chair, he very soon began to nod and doze.

"With your permission, sir," William went on with a touch of sarcasm in
his cool, slow voice, "I should like to call upon Mr. Alston to-morrow.
You have, I presume, no objection to my going to see him in his own
house. It is impossible to drop a matter of business