"Well, sir, what have you to say, Hartly, in regard to this suspicion which has arisen against you—that you are a traitor to our cause?"
"Nothing, sir, except that whoever started the suspicion, is a liar and a coward!" was the retort.
"Then, you deny that you have ever betrayed the existence of this band, outside of its own membership?"
"I do most emphatically. What assurance have you, that any one has betrayed you?"
"Is it not ample proof, when strange men haunt this vicinity, and haunt the members to their very doors? These law-sharks, or detectives, only wait for some disclosure, to spring their traps on me and my faithful followers."
"I am not to blame. Though forced into service against my will, and made to swear the oath of allegiance, rather than lose my life, I have kept such secrets as came into my possession. I believe I know who has excited the suspicious feeling against me."
"Well, sir, who?"
"Your rascally son, for one—your jealous daughter, for another," Hartly replied, shrugging his shoulders with a contemptuous laugh.
"How dare you term my son rascally, sir, and accuse my child of jealousy?"
"Because the boy is as unprincipled a villain as yourself, and as for your daughter, when she found that I did not court her favor, she at once turned against me. I despise both your son and your daughter, Captain Gregg, and that is all I have to say, except that I am not guilty of the charge preferred against me."