Putnam patriot., 1912-03-15

Tom-that's on your mind tnfs-rsr>r- ing. is its" Murrell was saying.
 Make it worth my while and I'll take her off your hands," and Mur- rell laughed.
 Tom favored him with a sullen stare.
 There was brief silence, during which Murrell studied his friend s face. When he spoke, it was to give the conversation a new direction.
 Did she bring the boy here last night? I saw you drive off with him in the carriage"
 'Yes, she makes a regular pet Of the little ragamuiiin."
 "Is the boy going to stay at Belle Plain?" inquired Murrell.
 That notion hasn't struck her yet, for I heard her say at breakfast that she'd take him to Raleigh this after noon."
 That's the boy l travelled all the way to North Carolina to get for Fentress."
 "Eh-you don't say?" cried Ware.
 rom. what do you know about the Quintard lands; what do you know about Quintard himself?' continued Murrell.
 He was a rich planter; lived in North Carolina. My father met him when he was in congress and got him to invest in land here. They had some colonization scheme on foot this was upward of twenty years ago but nothing came of it. Quintard lost interest"
 And the land?"
 "Oh, he held on to that"
 "Quintard has been dead two years, Tom, and back wonder in North Caro-. lima they told me he left nothing but the home plantation. The boy lived there up to the time of Quintard' s death, but what relation he was to the old man no one knew. Ofhand. Tom, I'd say that by getting hold of the boy Fentress expects to get hold of the Quintard land"
 That's likely" said Ware: then struck by a sudden idea, he added Are you going to take all the risks and let him pocket the cash? If it's the land he's after, the stakes big enough to divide"
 He can have the whole thing and welcome. I'm playing for a bigger stake" His friend stared at him in astonishment. I'm licking a specula. tion into shape that will cause me to be remembered while there's white man alive in the Mississippi Valley! Have you heard what the niggers did at Hayti?"
 You let the niggers alone; don't you tamper with them," said Ware He possessed profound belief in Murrell's capacity. He knew how the latter had shaped the uneasy popula tion that foregathered on the edge oi civilization to his own ends, and that what he had christened the Clan had become an elaborate organization disciplined and flexible to his ruthless will.
 Look here, what do you think have been working for--to steal a few niggers? That furnishes us with money, but you can push the trade too hard and too far. The planters are uneasy. The Clans got to deal 2 counter blow or go out of business Between here and the gulf" he made wide sweeping gesture with his arm. "I am spotting the country with my men; there are two thousand active workers on the rolls of tht Clan, and as many more like you Tom-and Fentress-on whose friend ship I can rely
 Sure as God, John Murrell, you are overreaching yourself! Youl white men are all right, they've got to stick by you; if they don't they know it's only question of time un til they get knife driven into theil ribs-but niggers-there isn't any real fight in a nigger, if there was they wouldn't be here
 Yet you couldn't have made the whites in Hayti believe that" said MurreIl, with a sinister smile.
 Ware, feeling the entire useiessness of argument, uttered string of i'm precautions, and then fell silent.
 Well, how about the girl, Tom?' asked Murrell at length. Listen to me. Tom. I'll take her away, and Belle Plain is yours-land, stock and niggers!" said Murrell.
 Ware shifted and twisted in his seat.
 Do you want the land and the mig gers? I reckon you'll have to take them whether you want them or not, for I'm going to have the girl"