Amid the universal excitement and confusion that followed, Larkin walked rapidly away with Hallet.

"You can heat the kettle, boys; Mulock can't run," cried Joe, from the platform. "But you must give him a fair trial."

"We'll do thet, never ye fear!" echoed a dozen voices.

"I nominate his friend, Mr. Gaston, for judge," said Joe. "Gaston it is! Gaston it is!" "Mount the bench, Mr. Gaston!" shouted a hundred "natives."

Gaston got upon the auction stand, and said:

"I'll serve, gentlemen; but, before we select jurors, the sale must go on. Miss Preston is not sold yet."

"All right! all right! Hurry up, Mr. Hammerman!" shouted the crowd.

The auctioneer took his place:

"A thousand dollars is bid for this young lady. Goinggoing-gone, to Mr. Joseph Preston.

Selma put her arms about Joe's neck, and, in broken tones, said: "My brother! my dear brother!" Then she laid her head on his shoulder, and wept-wept unrestrainedly.

Who can fathom the untold misery she had endured within those two hours!

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE LYNCHING.

THE impromptu judge took his seat on the bench, and the excited multitude once more subsided into quiet. In about fifteen minutes a tumult arose in a remote quarter of the ground, and Mulock and his pursuers appeared in sight, shouting, screaming, and swearing in a decidedly boisterous manner. The most of the profanity-to the credit of the selfappointed posse comitatus be it said-was indulged in by the ex-overseer, who, with his clothes torn in shreds, and his face covered with blood, looked like the battered relic of a forty years' war. A red bandanna pinioned his arms to his sides, and a strong man at each elbow spurred his flagging footsteps by an occasional poke with a pine branch. Ally followed at a few paces, looking about as dilapidated as the culprit himself. To him evidently belonged the glory of the capture.

As they approached the stand, Gaston rose, and called out: "Do not insult justice, by bringing the prisoner into court in this condition. Let his face be washed, his garments changed, and his wounds bound up, before he appears for trial. Dr. Rawson, I commission you special officer for the duty."

"I'm at your service, Major Gaston," said the doctor, stepping out from the crowd into the open semicircle in front of

the bench.

"Will some one procure the loan of a coat, hat,

and trousers at the mansion?"

Ally started for the needed clothing, and the physician led the way to the small lake. In about twenty minutes the volunteer officials returned with the criminal, clothed in a more respectable manner, and Gaston said to him:

"Prisoner, take your place."

Resistance was useless, and Mulock, with a slow step, and a sullen, dogged air, ascended the platform, and seated himself in the chair provided for him at its further extremity. Gaston sat at the other end, facing him; and four brawny "natives," with revolvers in their hands, took positions by his side.

"Silence in the court!" cried Gaston.

The noisy multitude became quiet, and the extempore official proceeded-with greater solemnity than many another judge of more regular appointment exhibits on similar occasions-to say:

"Prisoner, you are charged with two of the highest offences known to our laws; namely, with aiding and abetting an illegal and cruel assault on a white woman, and with procuring and inciting the murder of your own wife. You are about to be tried for these crimes by a jury of your countrymen; and I am appointed judge, that full and impartial justice may be done you. It shall be done. Counsel will be awarded you; and, that you may not be condemned by prejudiced men, you will be given the privilege of peremptory challenge against four out of every five of the jurors I shall nominate. I shall now proceed to name the jury, and you will signify your objection to those you do not approve. Thomas Murchison."

That gentleman came forward, and Mulock said:

"I take him."

"Godfrey Banks."

"He's inimy ter me."

The man stepped aside; and thus they proceeded, the prisoner taking full advantage of the liberty of choice allowed him, until, out of a panel of nearly sixty, twelve respectable, yeomanly-looking men had been selected. As each juro was approved of by the crowd (who had the final decision), he. took a seat on a row of benches facing the "judge" and the prisoner. When the last one had taken his place, Gaston said:

"Prisoner, you have heard the charges against you; are you guilty, or not guilty? If you think proper to acknowledge your guilt of either or both the crimes with which you are charged, I shall feel it my duty to award you a lighter punishment."

"I hain't guilty uv 'ary one on 'em," said Mulock, without looking up.

"What legal gentleman will appear for the people?" cried Gaston, turning to the audience. Several sprigs of the law shot out from the multitude. "I accept you, Mr. Flanders. Who will act for the prisoner?"

Each one of the volunteers fell back, and no response came from any part of the ground. Mulock evidently was neither blessed nor cursed with many friends.

"Does no one appear for the prisoner? Gentlemen of the legal profession, I am sorry to see this reluctance to aid a defenceless man. Will not some one oblige me, by volunteering? I shall consider it a personal service," said Gaston.

Still no response was heard. At least five minutes passed, and the "judge's" face was assuming a look of painful concern, when Larkin approached the bench.

"Gintlemen," he said, "th' man hain't no friends, an' it's a d-d shame not ter come out fur a feller as stands alone. Ef I knowed lor, I'd go in fur him, ef he wus th' devil himself."

No one came forward in answer to even this appeal; and, turning on the crowd, while warm, manly scorn glowed on his every feature, the negro-trader cried out:

"Ye're a set uv d-d sneakin' hounds, every one on ye. Ye're wuss than th' parsons, an' the' hain't fit ter tote vittles ter a bar." Turning to the "judge," he added, in a more respectful tone: "I doan't know th' fust thing 'bout lor, Major Gaston, an' this man's nigh as mean a cuss as th' Lord ever made; but ef ye'll 'cept me, I'll go in fur him!"

"I will accept you, with pleasure. You're doing a gentlemanly thing, Mr. Larkin."

A murmur of applause went round the assemblage, as Larkin and the other counsel took seats near the jury.

The "judge" then rose, and said:

"Gentlemen of the Jury: You have engaged in a solemn office. You are about to try a fellow being for his life. It is a painful duty, but it is an obligation you owe to the community, and to yourselves, and you will not shrink from it. Society is held together by laws made to protect the innocent and punish the guilty. But, as our society is organized, there are some offences which our tribunals cannot reach. In such cases the people, from whom all laws proceed, have a right to take the law into their own hands.