The Spectre In The Cart | Page 9

was not a word except the orders of
the leader and his lieutenants and the occasional outcry of the prisoner,
who prayed and cursed by turns.
"They passed out of the village and turned in at Halloway's place.
"Here the prisoner made his last struggle. The idea of being taken to
Halloway's place appeared to terrify him to desperation. He might as
well have struggled against the powers of the Infinite. He said he would
confess everything if they would not take him there. They said they did
not want his confession. He gave up, and from this time was quiet; and
he soon began to croon a sort of hymn.
"The procession stopped at the big sycamore under which I had last
parted from Halloway.
"I asked leave to speak again; but they said no. They asked the prisoner
if he wanted to say anything. He said he wanted something to eat. The
leader said he should have it; that it should never be said that any
man--even he--had asked in vain for food in that county.
"Out of a haversack food was produced in plenty, and while the crowd
waited, amidst profound silence the prisoner squatted down and ate up
the entire plateful.
"Then the leader said he had just five minutes more to live and he had
better pray.
"He began a sort of wild incoherent ramble; confessed that he had

murdered Halloway and his wife, but laid the chief blame on his father,
and begged them to tell his friends to meet him in heaven.
"I asked leave to go, and it was given me on condition that I would not
return for twenty minutes. This I agreed to.
"I went to my home and aroused someone, and we returned. It was not
much more than a half-hour since I had left, but the place was deserted.
It was all as silent as the grave. There was no living creature there.
Only under the great sycamore, from one of its long, pale branches that
stretched across the road, hung that dead thing with the toes turned a
little in, just out of our reach, turning and swaying a little in the night
wind.
"We had to climb to the limb to cut the body down.
"The outside newspapers made a good deal of the affair. I was charged
with indifference, with cowardice, with venality. Some journals even
declared that I had instigated the lynching and participated in it, and
said that I ought to be hanged.
"I did not mind this much. It buoyed me up, and I went on with my
work without stopping for a rest, as I had intended to do.
"I kept my word and ransacked the county for evidence against the
lynchers. Many knew nothing about the matter; others pleaded their
privilege and refused to testify on the ground of self-crimination.
"The election came on again, and almost before I knew it I was in the
midst of the canvass.
"I held that election would be an indorsement of me, and defeat would
be a censure. After all, it is the indorsement of those about our own
home that we desire.
"The night before the election I spoke to a crowd at Burley's Fork. The
place had changed since Halloway checked Absalom Turnell there. A
large crowd was in attendance. I paid Halloway my personal tribute

that night, and it met with a deep response. I denounced the lynching.
There was a dead silence. I was sure that in my audience were many of
the men who had been in the mob that night.
"When I rode home quite a company started with me.
"The moon, which was on the wane, was, I remember, just rising as we
set ont It was a soft night, rather cloudy, but not dark, for the sad moon
shone a little now and then, looking wasted and red. The other men
dropped off from time to time as we came to the several roads that led
to their homes and at last I was riding alone. I was dead tired and after I
was left by my companions sat loungingly on my horse. My mind ran
on the last canvass and the strange tragedy that had ended it, with its
train of consequences. I was not aware when my horse turned off from
the main road into the by-lane that led through the Halloway place to
my own home. My horse was the same I had ridden that night. I
awaked suddenly to a realization of where I was, and regretted for a
second that I had come by that road. The next moment I put the thought
away as a piece of cowardice and rode on, my mind perfectly easy. My
horse presently broke into a