Henry tried to rise and rush to the rescue but he couldn't move. To his surprise the performance fascinated him. He sat peering with satisfaction.

"Dat's paying her back fur leavin' me fer dat low-life rascal. Give it to her, old man. Give it to her. She sho' deserve it!"

Julius paused, and eyed her steadily while he shook his switch with unction.

"I axes ye now, does ye believe in de Sanctification er

de Saints?"

"Yes, Lawd, I sees it now!" she responded with fervor. "An' thanks me fer showin' ye de error er yo' way?" "Yes, honey. I'm gwine ter seek dat Sanctification myself."

"Glory. We'se er comin' on!"

Laura picked up the flatiron. Julius was too much elated with his victory to notice anything unusual in her

manner.

"And ye b'lieves now in de Sanctification er de Lawd's messenger, Julius A. Postle?"

With a sudden flash of her eye Laura hurled the flatiron straight at the head of the Lord's messenger, saying: "I ain't sed dat yit!"

But Julius was quick. He dodged in time. The flatiron merely tipped his ear and smashed through the window. He gripped his switch with renewed zeal.

"I see I'se des begun-one debble out, but dey's six mo' ter come!"

Again he whipped her around the room, threw her down, grasped her by the hair and banged her head against the floor.

"Fur de las' time I axes ye, is de Lawd's messenger, Julius A. Postle, a sanctified one?"

"Yes, honey, I sees it now!" she agreed.

"Dat's de way!"

"Does ye lub me fur showin' ye de light?" "I lubs ye, my honey, yes, I do!"

"An' I'se de only man dat ye ebber lub?"

Henry couldn't wait for the answer. He gripped his stick, sprang through the door, knocked the Apostle flat on his back, and jumped on him. Laura was more astonished than Julius at her sudden deliverance. She scrambled to her feet and gazed in amazement at Henry as he smashed Julius' head against the floor with one hand and pounded him with the other.

At every thump Julius yelled:

"God, sabe me-de debble done got me-save me, Lawd -save me now!"

Henry pounded steadily away.

Laura, when she caught her breath, grasped Henry's arm and yelled:

"What you doin' here, nigger?"

He wrenched his arm loose and hit Julius in the mouth as he cried again for help.

"Git offen my ole man, I tell ye!" screamed Laura, gripping him by the throat.

"Name er God, 'oman, what yer doin' when I comes here ter save ye!" cried Henry, wrenching himself loose and returning to his work on Julius.

"Git offen 'im, fo' I bus' yer open!" she panted, towering above the writhing pair. She began to pound Henry over the head with her fists, but he worked steadily, without noticing the interruptions.

Suddenly Laura threw both arms around his neck, bent his lank figure double across Julius' prostrate form, and hurled her two hundred pounds across the writhing pair. There was silence for a moment and then Julius groaned:

"God save us, we'se all gone-de house done fall on us!"

"Na, honey, it's me," cried Laura, "an' I got 'im in de gills!"

She rolled over and pulled Henry with her-both hands gripped on his throat.

In a moment Julius was on his feet.

"De Lawd hear my cry!" he breathed with unction, pouncing on Henry and pounding him while his spouse held him fast. Henry found his voice at last, and began to yell murder.

Wilkes, who was pacing the walk in front of the Judge's, anxiously waiting to see Claudia, heard the cries and rushed to the rescue. He pulled Julius and Laura off in time to save Henry's shirt and portions of his clothes.

As he entered the cottage, he saw the note in Craig's handwriting which had fallen to the floor. He picked it up and put it in his pocket.

When Henry got out of the door, he did not stand on the order of his going. He struck a bee line for the office and ran without looking back.

Craig was pacing the floor, his heart beating out the interminable minutes.

Henry burst into the room, his nose bleeding, a gash across his forehead, his clothes torn and splotched with the blood from his nose. He was still wild with the fear of death which had strangled him as the light of day faded under Laura's grip on his throat.

He sank panting on a chair.

"For God's sake, Henry, what's happend !" Craig cried, seizing a glass of water and pressing it to his lips. "Dey kill me, Marse John!"

"Who did?"

"De folks at de Judge's."

"Where's my note?"

"Dunno, sah."

"Didn't you deliver it?"

"Dunno, sah."

"Did you go to the house?"

"Dunno, sah."

"Where did this happen?"

"At de gate, sah, dey wuz layin' fer me. De Judge mus' er tole 'em ter kill me."

"Who did it ?"

"Ole Julius and Laura jump on me fust, but tow'd de last dey wuz er dozen. Six un 'em wuz er beatin' me on de head at de same time, three er four wuz er settin' on top er me, two had me by the throat an' de res' un 'em wuz er steady kickin' me in de stummick. Dey'd er had me sho' by dis time ef I didn't kotch my breaf an' holler'd." "Who helped you?"

"Mr. George Wilkes wuz dar ter see Miss Claudy an' he run in an' pulled 'em off. When I lit out for home I wuz er sight sho nuff. I hear Miss Claudy come up ter Mr. Wilkes an' bust out laffin' fit ter kill herself."

"And you don't know what became of the note?" "Yassah-cose, sah-dey tuck hit away fum me and tore it up-dat's what I fit 'em 'bout-yassah!"

Craig's face went white with rage. He sent Henry home, sat down at his desk, and drew out the papers which he had laid aside. The Judge had won. He had covered him with infamy in the eyes of his daughter and had dared to do this outrage. And she had joined in the fun. He couldn't understand Aunt Laura's part in it, but the evidence of Henry's plight could not be mistaken.

For three hours with stern, set face he worked completing the case of Craig vs. Hawkins. At four o'clock he had entered the suit and an officer served the papers on the astonished Judge.

W

CHAPTER XIII

THE CONVENTION

HEN Craig read the account of his suit in the little paper which appeared the following day, his heart sank. The language which he had used was savage. In cold print it was unpardonable. His provocation had been great. But he need not have used such epithets in describing Hawkins' rascality. He had dug a gulf between him and the girl that could not be bridged. No matter what the truth about it might be, Claudia would defend her father.

Regrets were vain. With an effort he pulled himself together and hurried to the hall to watch the assembling Radical Convention.

Emboldened by the proclaimed end of the Ku Klux Klan a large delegation had crowded the town. There were so many negro delegates from the Black Belt that they

had been housed in tents on the vacant lots in the rear of the building. Blackmar had distinguished himself as their friend in these arrangements. The delegates were massed before the doors.

The blacks outnumbered the whites two to one. The negroes were in high feather. They had linked the end of the Klan with the beginning of a new era of power for their party.

A white fakir was selling Indian medicines and doing a thriving business. Cotton was on the market and the They spent it freely. At one stand

negroes had money.