I b'lieve in my soul he's done drowned the po' lady's
body."
"All right; you go inside and be ready to chain the gate if I am run in."
Then he waited for the return of the envoy.
John Morris sat on his horse quite apart even from his own friends, and
after a few words with him, Mitchell had gone to the group of horsemen
about whom the townsmen were gathered. The sheriff did not know what this
portended, but he waited patiently, leaning against the wall of the jail
and whittling a stick. He knew quite well that all these men were friendly
to him; that they understood his position perfectly, and that they expected
him to pretend to do his duty to a reasonable extent, and so far their
good-nature would last; but he knew equally well that in their eyes the
negro had put himself beyond the pale of the law; that they were determined
to hang him and would do it at any cost; and that the only mercy which the
culprit could expect from this upper class to which Mr. Morris belonged was
that his death would be quick and quiet. He knew also that if they found
out that he was in earnest in defending the prisoner he himself would be in
danger not only from Mr.
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