Allan had said in his message that he had recognized Dan Nolan; yet, in the stress of his emotion at the time, the strangeness of Nolan’s appearance under the circumstances had not occurred to him. Yet it was strange; yes, more than strange. Here was Nolan in company with the men whom he had basely betrayed by turning State’s evidence, and apparently received by them again on terms of comradeship. How had they come to forgive him the one offence which criminals never forgive? What was it had turned aside their anger and persuaded them to admit again to their company a man who had been proved a traitor?

The chain of circumstances which led to this result was so peculiar that it is worth pausing a moment to describe.

Nolan had gone south, as Jack Welsh had predicted, after the failure of his attempt to wreck the special and to revenge himself on Allan; but drawn, as Jack had foreseen, by an irresistible attraction, he had gradually worked his way back to the north ? 282 ? again, and, not daring to return to Wadsworth, had finally drifted to Coalville. There, after loitering around the saloons, until they refused admission to so penniless and disreputable a customer, he had secured work as hostler in the company’s stables; where, if the wages were not large, neither was the work exhausting. Here Nolan had remained for some months, believing himself secure from discovery. He slept in a loft at the rear of the stable, and here, one night, he was awakened by a savage grip at his throat. He endeavoured to yell, but as he opened his mouth, something was stuffed into it that muffled the cry, and nearly choked him. Half-dead with fright, he felt himself lifted from the hay, passed down the ladder and borne out into the open air. Then he fainted.

When he opened his eyes, he fancied for a moment that he was dreaming, so weird and uncanny was the picture which confronted him. Black columns towered about him into the darkness overhead, like the pillars of a cathedral, and now and then he caught a glimpse of the ebon ceiling, shining with moisture, which dripped down the pillars to the floor. Just in front of him flickered a little fire, over which a pot was simmering. About the fire were grouped four figures; and as he looked from one to the other of them, Nolan’s senses reeled and his heart quaked, for, by the dancing light of the fire, he recognized the four men whom he had betrayed.

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How had they come here? Their terms in prison, he knew, would not end for many years; buried as he was in this hole among the hills, associating only with the dullest and most depraved of human beings, he had heard nothing of their escape. How had they found him? Above all, what did they intend to do with him? He shuddered as he asked himself that last question.

His captors were talking earnestly among themselves, paying no heed to him, but at the end of a moment, one of them arose to examine the contents of the pot, and glancing at Nolan, perceived that his eyes were open.

“Why, hello, Dannie,” he cried, with a sort of unholy glee which frightened Dan more than any threats could have done, “how are ye?”

Dan could find no voice to answer, but the others got up and, moving nearer, sat down before him. Their eyes were shining as a cat’s do when it sees the mouse under its paw. And like the cat, they prepared to put their prey to the torture.

“Well, this is an unexpected pleasure,” said one.

“So glad to have you as our guest,” said another.

“Yes; we’ve got the spare room ready,” said a third, whereat they all laughed uproariously.

“The spare room—good!”

“A lofty chamber, Dannie; you’ll feel like a king.”

“And sleep like a top!”

“Even if the bed is rather hard.”

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And then they all laughed again.

“Yes—and as long as you like! You’re our guest, Dannie. And we’re going to keep you awhile!”

Dan was bathed from head to foot in a cold sweat. He could not guess their meaning, but he knew it boded no good for him.

“We’ve been wanting to see you so bad,” one of the men went on, “ever since you treated us so well at the trial. Pity you couldn’t have held your tongue then, Dannie; you’d have had to stay in jail a little longer, but at least you’d have been alive.”

At last Dan found his tongue.

“You ain’t a-goin’ t’ kill me!” he cried. “You wouldn’t treat an old pal like that!”

“No, no, Dannie!” came the answer, soothingly, “we’re just going to put you in our spare room. Then I’m afraid we’ll have to bid you adieu. You see this State don’t agree with our health very well. We wouldn’t have stayed this long except for the pleasure of seeing you. Ain’t you glad?”

“How’d you know where I was?” Nolan asked.

The man laughed.

“Why, we’ve known where you were ever since you were let out on parole. We heard how you’d tried to wreck another train, and then lighted out for the south; we heard about your roustabouting on the wharves at Mobile, and stealing a case of tobacco from a warehouse and trying to sell it and ? 285 ? coming so near getting pinched that you had to get out of that place in a hurry, and start back north again. Why, we’ve got friends who, at a word from us, would have done for you a dozen times over—they knew what you’d done; but we were reserving that pleasure for ourselves, Daniel. And when we heard that you had stopped here, we decided to pay you a little visit on our way out of the State, and had this place fixed up for us, and here we are. But you don’t look a bit glad to see us!”

Dan, following the speaker with painful attention, caught a glimpse of an underworld whose existence he had never suspected—a confederacy of crime to which he, as a mere novice and outsider, had never been admitted. The one unforgivable crime to this association was to turn traitor, to “peach”—that is, to inform against one’s accomplices in order to escape oneself. That was exactly what Nolan had done, and he was now to pay for it.

The four men, as by a single impulse, rose to their feet, and one of them picked up a coil of rope which lay at the foot of the nearest pillar.

“Get up,” said one of them roughly, to Nolan.

But Nolan was paralyzed by fear, and incapable of movement, for he believed that they were going to hang him.

“Get up,” his captor repeated, and seizing him by the shoulder, jerked him to his feet.

Nolan clutched for support at the pillar against ? 286 ? which he had been leaning. He saw now that it was of coal, and he suddenly understood where he was. He had been brought to one of the abandoned workings of the mine; he knew there were many such, and that no one ever ventured into them through fear of the deadly fire-damp which almost always gathers in such neglected levels. And he knew there was no hope of rescue.

“Why, look at the coward!” cried his captor, disgustedly. “He’s as weak as a rag. It’s enough to make a man sick!”

Dan turned a piteous face toward him.

“You—you ain’t goin’ to hang me?” he faltered.

The men burst into a roar of laughter.

“No,” one of them answered, “we’re goin’ to save you from gettin’ hanged, as you certainly would be if we let you go. Really, you ought to thank us.”

Partially reassured, Dan managed to take a few steps forward. After all, they had said they were not going to kill him!

Then he st............