shuffled back to the door; as he opened it he bowed again. “Alyanatying her ’fections! I ’low I ain’t gwine ter fergit dat. Evenin’, gentermen,” and he closed the door.

The judge looked across at Caleb. “That’s one of the Eaton faction,” he remarked grimly. “Yarnall has to contend with that kind of cattle. Juniper’s sold, body and soul, to the Eatons, and that old fool, Jinny Eaton, gave him a silver-plated teapot for his birthday. You might as well give a nigger a diamond sunburst or a tame bear. He and his wife have been at swords’ points ever since, but as sure as the first Tuesday in November comes, that whole black horde will vote the Eaton ticket.”

Caleb Trench regarded the judge thoughtfully. “You’d like to disfranchise the negro,” he remarked.

Hollis grunted. “You’re a black Republican,” he said bitingly.

Trench shook his head. “No, sir, a conservative,” he replied, “but an honest man, I hope. I haven’t much more use for the ignorant black vote than you have, but that question isn’t the one that hits me, Judge.”

The judge looked keenly at the grim composure of the face opposite. “What does?”

[36]“Dishonesty, fraud, and intimidation,” Trench answered.

[36]

“And you propose to oppose and expose them?” The old man was keenly interested, his heavy brows drawn down, his eyes sparkling.

“I do.”

Judge Hollis rose and went over to the younger man. He laid his hand on his shoulder. “You’re a poor man, Trench; they’ll ruin you.”

“So be it.”

“You’re alone; they’ll kill you,” warned the judge.

Trench rose, and as his tall figure towered, the fine width of his brow and the peculiar lucidity of his glance had never seemed more striking. Judge Hollis watched him in grim admiration.

“I’ve got but one life,” he said, “and, as God sees me, I’ll live that life in fear of no man.”

The judge walked slowly back to his seat, took off his spectacles and laid them down beside his brief. “Reckon Jacob Eaton’s got his match at last,” he said, 

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