a man she'd get a divorce."

Two or three laughed behind their masks. Another laugh went round as a
short figure returned from the bushes with a bucket of tar which had
been left near the road-side.

"Heer's yore gumstickum." He dipped a paddle in it and flourished it
before Westerfelt, who was still on his horse. "Say, mister, you don't
seem inclined to say anything fer yorese'f; the last man we dressed out
fer his weddin' begged like a whipped child, an' made no end o'
promises uv good behavior."

Westerfelt got down from his horse. "I'm completely in your power," he
replied. "I won't beg any man nor gang of men living to give me my
rights. I suppose I am accused of having reported those fellows to the
revenue men. I have simply to say that it is a lie!"

"Uh, uh!" said the leader; "_care_ful! _care_ful! Don't be reckless.
We uns ain't the lyin' sort."

"I say it's a lie!" Westerfelt stared straight into the mask of Toot
Wambush. The wearer of it started and half raised his revolver, but
quickly concealed it under the sheet that hung below his waist.
Everybody was silent, as if they expected a reply from Wambush, but he
made none.

"Them pore Cohutta men lyin' in the Atlanta jail said so, anyway,"
returned the leader. "They ain't heer to speak fer the'rse'ves; it's a
easy thing to give them the lie behind the'r backs."

"They were mistaken, that's all," said Westerfelt. "Nobody but the
revenue men themselves could tell the whole truth about it. I did pass
the wagon--"

"An' eavedropped on our two men. Oh, we know you did, kase they heerd
a sound, an' then as you didn't come for'ard, they 'lowed they had made
a mistake, but when you finally did pass they knowed it wus you, an'
that you'd been listenin'."

"That's the truth," admitted Westerfelt. "I had been warned that it
would be dangerous for me to go about in the mountains alone. I heard
the men talking, and stopped to find out who they were. I did not want
to run into an ambush. As soon as I found out who they were I spoke to
them and passed."

"At the stable, though, young man," reminded the leader--"at the
stable, when the bluecoats fetched the prisoners an' the plunder in,
they told you that they'd found them right whar you said they wus."

"You bet he did. What's the use a-jabberin' any longer?" The voice
was unmistakably Wambush's, and his angry tones seemed to fire the
impatience of the others. Westerfelt started to speak,