t rang through the splashing of the rain from
the eaves, the crash of thunder among the "balds" of the mountains, with
its lofty echoes, and the sonorous surging of the wind.

"Light a tallow-dip, Meddy," cried old Kettison, excitedly. "An' fetch
the candle on the porch so ez we-uns kin view who rides so late in sech
a night 'fore we bid 'em ter light an' hitch."

But these were travelers not to be gainsaid--the sheriff of the county
and four stout fellows from the town of Colbury, summoned to his aid as
a posse, all trooping in as if they owned the little premises. However,
the officer permitted himself to unbend a trifle under the influence of
a hospitable tender of home-made cherry-bounce, "strong enough to walk
from here to Colbury," according to the sheriff's appreciative phrase.
He was a portly man, with a rolling, explanatory cant of his burly head
and figure toward his interlocutor as he talked. His hair stood up in
two tufts above his forehead, one on each side, and he had large, round,
grayish eyes and a solemn, pondering expression. To Meddy, staring
horror-stricken, he seemed as owlishly wise as he looked while he
explained the object of his expedition.

"This district have got a poor reputation with the law, Mr. Kettison.
Here is this fellow, Boyston McGurny, been about here two years, and a
reward for five hundred dollars out for his arrest."

"That's Boy's fault, Sher'ff, not our'n," leered the glib old man. He,
too, had had a sip of the stalwart cherry-bounce. "Boy's in no wise
sociable."

"It's plumb flying in the face of the law," declared the officer. "If
I had a guide, I'd not wait a minute, or if I could recognize the man
whenst I viewed him. The constable promised to send a fellow to meet me
here,--what's his name!--yes, Smith, Barton Smith,--who will guide us to
where he was last glimpsed. I hope to take him alive." he added with an
inflection of doubt.

Certainly this was a dreary camp-hunt, with all its distasteful
sequelae. Purcell, who had no more imagination than a promissory note,
silently sulked under the officer's intimation that, being able-bodied
men, he would expect the hunters also to ride with him. They were not of
his county, and doubted their obligation, but they would not refuse
to aid the law. Bygrave, however, realized a "story" in the air, and
Seymour was interested in the impending developments; for being a close
observer, he had perceived that the girl was in the clutch