"Does ye reecognize anybody else, thet war thar?" Kelly was questioned and without a falter of doubt he again thrust an index finger forward close to the blanching face of Charlie Reverdy.
Jim Towers stood bracing himself with a stiff-necked effort at defiance. He was caught by an overwhelming force of his enemies—and no help was at hand. No rescue was possible and he expected death, as in similar circumstances, he would have inflicted it. But the sneer which he forced to his lips could not out-testify the sickly green of his pallor as he awaited his sentence.
When the identification of Reverdy had been also corroborated by similar procedure, Bear Cat turned once more to confront Towers.
"Hev ye any denial ter make? Hev ye anything ter say?"
"All I've got ter say," was the insolent retort, "air thet ye kin go ter hell. Finish up yore murder ... ye kain't affright me none."
"Burnin' down dwellin' houses air a grave matter," pursued Stacy with a grim calm. "Hangin' hain't none too severe fer any man thet would foller hit. So we hyarby sentences ye ter death—but we suspends ther sentence. We don't aim ter hang ye—leastways not yit." After a pause freighted with deep anxiety for the accused he added, "All we aims ter do with ye air ter tie ye on bare-backed mules thet's right bony an' slavish ter ride, an' ter tek ye acrost ther line inter Virginny." The tone in which the edict was pronounced bore inexorable and sincere finality.
"But from thar on, both of ye air ter leave ther mountings an' never come back ter this community ergin. An' ef ye does undertake ter come back, we swears afore Almighty God ter kill ye both—an' onless ye both gives yore solemn oath ter faithfully obey this command—we'll kill ye now an' hyar."
There was no choice. Grudgingly the pair accepted exile, which after all was a more lenient punishment than they had expected or deserved. Towers was permitted to take leave of his family, but it is doubtful if the woman regarded that parting as an unmixed affliction.
Slowly the culprits were escorted out to see in the darkness of the forests other black shapes that wavered fantastically and dreadfully under the flare and sputter of pine torches. At the middle of a long column, twisting like a huge snake along deserted roads, they were escorted into banishment.
The other men in the house were held prisoners until dawn. Then each, blindfolded and in custody of a separate squad, was taken to a point distant from his home—and liberated.