Part 46 (1/2)

”Guess I don't need to tell you a deal about yourself,” Seth went on presently ”I'll just mention that Nevil Steyne ain't your real na to locate the other That's ashis voice ”You're wuss'n a yaller dawg, but even a yaller dawg mostly has an option That's how it is wi' you, seein' you're o' that breed I ain't no feelin' o' ive you a chance Ef you stay right here ther's the courts as 'll hang you sure; ef you quit, ther's the Injuns as you've lived by, an' as you fooled to suit your own dirty scheaoin' to cash in, an' it kind o' seeht now”

Nevil had sat up while the other was speaking He gave no outward sign beyond that one movement Now he slowly rose to his feet and looked down upon the set face of the arbiter of his fate a little uncertainly He turned fro on in no little puzzlement

Then his eyes came back to the relentless face of Seth, and he see to penetrate the sphinx-like expression he beheld

He scented danger, he knew there was danger But even so his mind was made up He would not face the jury of his white brothers He believed he understood the Indians, and saw chances in this direction But there was the wonder why Seth had given him the chance He had no time to debate the question His ansas needed

”I'll go back to the Indians,” he said, with a hateful laugh, in which there was no se can always run for it”

”Jest so It ken allus run”

Then the full bitterness of his position swept over the renegade, and a deep rage stirred the hatred he held for this man who had outwitted him at every turn, and noas in a position to pronounce sentence upon him And his words came loith concentrated fury

”Yes, blast you, you can sneer! But I tell you you're er Bah, I care nothing for theet clear and save myself, and, as sure as there's a hell for the damned, you shall pay!”

But the man he addressed reravely

”Good,” he said ”Now git--git quick!”

And the man who posed as Nevil Steyne passed out of the hut and out of the fort, urged alestion of Seth's final coned in the little corn shed Parker had a hundred questions to ask, but none of them came readily to his lips in face of his companion's silence In the end it was Seth who spoke first

”Wal,” he said, with a sigh, ”that's settled” His words were an expression of relief

”I don't understand You've let hiet away in safety after----”

”Yes,” responded the other gri's chance”

The answer silenced all further protest

”Yes,” Seth went on reflectively, ”I've done with hiuess; we all have Say, he's Rosebud's uncle”

”Ah!” Parker was beginning to understand But he was not yet satisfied, and his ejaculation was an invitation to the other

Seth went on as though in soliloquy

”Yes He's gone, an' ther' ain't no tellin' where he'll finish Ther's a hell soer, oin' to face 'euess”

”But he ht of thescot-free

Seth shook his head

”No,” he said ”He'll face 'euess Jioes An' Jim Crow hain't no use for Stephen Raynor”