the cabin was a
small one. The yells of those revengeful men rent the midnight air while
all that was dear to Jack Wade was fast going down to ashes and utter
ruin.

The horses' feet beat a heavy clattering retreat back up the road. When
they passed Peter Judson's cabin Wade slipped noiselessly out into the
darkness, struck the road and started, on foot, rapidly after the fast
retreating horsemen. He knew it would have been folly under ordinary
circumstances to have tried to catch up with them, but he figured they
would soon strike the roughest part of the hill where horses could not
travel fast, and he might by traveling rapidly catch up with them before
they left the mountain road.

Old Peter Judson did not realize what the young man contemplated until
he was too far gone. When he came to a realization of the truth he swore
a blue streak and started out in search of "ther durn fool," who, for
some unknown reason, he had come to like.

Jack Wade could hear the clattering noise of the horses as they rushed
over the rocky way. Fainter and fainter the noise grew until he could
hear it no more. Undismayed, however, he trudged on, in the hope of soon
finding some trace of those he pursued. The heavy raindrops pelted down
upon him, soaking his clothes until their weight became a burden to his
tired and weary limbs. On he went, regardless of distance, picking his
way by the light of an occasional flash of lightning, which made it more
necessary to grope his way when the lightning failed to give the needed
light, until when the gray streaks of early dawn appeared in the eastern
horizon he found himself many miles away from his burned cabin. Yet he
had discovered no trace of the perpetrators of the foul deed, whom he
had followed for almost half of the night.

Water soaked, tired and worn in body and mind, he remembered that he had
not slept for twenty-four hours, nor had he eaten anything, save a
lunch, for nearly as long. Weak and sore of foot, he sat down on a
little hillock and leaned his head back against a boulder to get a
little much needed rest before attempting to start on his return journey
homeward. As he sat thus the dawn grew brighter, the streaks of light in
the eastern sky painting a few clouds a beautiful red. The mountain
scenery was still wrapped in silent mystery. Soon birds began their
chirping songs from their abode in the thickets, and all wild life was
beginning to stir. Dew-dipped grasses began to r