The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1903-08-06

swer promptly, so dry were their
threats and so stiffened their tongues.
Not that either wanted courage. But
the situation under the circumstances
was absolutely overpowering.
, care you deaf, you frogeater?" con-
| tinued Rameau, as he recognized Vas
seur. "Speaa instantly or Pill"
Evidently Eameau was astouished,
although his face retained its calm,
cold, almost Indifferent expression.
He had not expected ever to meet Vas
seur again; taxing it for a certainty
that the little fellow had been burned
to ashes in the fire OF his own house.
Here he was, however, evidently in
tent on revenge, Rameau felt sure, and
a most dangerous man he was to be
hunted by.
ct was hunting my lost cattle"
quickly responded the little French
man iu his own tongue; "a man robbed
US just now"
"Don't lie to me, half-breed; I
know what you are up to; I can read
you as if your face were a book. You
are up here logging my tracks, have
heard OF you prowling around for some
time"
Rameau's look and voice were cold,
hard. cruel and Vssseur well knew
that it was not worth while to maze
any further attempt to deceive him.
Burns stood beside his horse in an
attitude which betrayed his intense e1.
| element as much as did the extreme
gray pallor and the almost distorted
contraction of his face; but Rameau
was too much occupied with Vssseur
to give the old man more than q pass.
ing glance. -.
"Tie that fellow to a tree, Newkirk,"
said the leader OF the cavaliers to INT
of his followers. "Tie him up and
give him forty with a good gad."
The man at once obeyed the order.
;vasseur began to whine and beg; he
saw that resistance would be madness;
but the thought of a whipping was
torture itself. When a boy he had
known, on a plantation in San Do
mingo, what the lash felt like, falling
on the bare back. The recollection
coming to him suddenly drew up his
limbs as if with rheumatic agony.
He pleaded in the name of all the
saints he could think of and prayed in
polyglot profusion.
Newkirk, aided by one of his fell
lows, seized him and, despite his strug.
giles, placed him in a hugging attitude
against a tree, where they bound him
securely.
"Now cut some switches and give
him a sound basting," said Rameau.
CATER he has been thoroughly tickled.
maybe he won't. be so anxious to hunt
lost cattle IN these woods!"
Then, while the men were selecting
their gads, be turned to Burns.
"And are you cattle-hunter, too?"
he inquired with sarcastic in%tonation.
"What have you got to say for your
self??"
The old man made a great effort,
but his lips moved without giving
forth q sound. Three times he tried
to speak. his parched tongue crisping
in his mouth like a frost-dried leaf.
"Some cat has got your tongue, too,
eh? Perhaps you would like a few
lashes before speaking to . gentle
man. Is that it?"
Rameau said these words while
looking hard into the old mans with
ing face. As he did so, he felt a
vague uneasiness, as of something
forgotten or Of something strange
about to happen, and he almost shrank
from the faring yet aged-dulled
eyes that gazed SO fxedly at him;
When, at last, Burns found his
voice, he leaned forward, and in a
hoarse, rasping half whisper, tina.
Kissed strangely through the woods,
exclaimed:
cat last, Kirk MacCollousb, I have
found you!"