Whereupon the crowd shouted its enthusiastic approval of the suggestion. And in another moment, helpless as he was, Bannister was pulled from his chair and from the platform, and a dozen willing hands turned his face toward home.
Then, suddenly, a woman stood beside him, and the resolute voice of Sarah Jane Stark was heard:—
“Gentlemen, don’t you think you’re going a little bit too far?”
[CHAPTER III]
A LOVER OF LINCOLN
There was an awkward pause. The band, already on its way toward the prisoner, halted. The man who had been pushing Bannister along, loosened his hold. No one seemed quite ready to answer Miss Stark’s question. At last, the chairman of the meeting, feeling that the duty of acting as spokesman devolved properly upon him, replied:—
“The man is a traitor, Miss Stark. He is not fit to remain with us. It is for our own protection that we are sending him away.”
Sarah Jane Stark tossed her head scornfully.
“Well,” she said, “I don’t see that any of you are in very great or immediate personal danger. And as for bravery, it don’t take much courage for fifty men to set on one man and tie his hands behind his back and buffet and abuse him. I’ve watched the whole thing, and I don’t like it. The man made a fool of himself, that’s true, and Judge Morgan told him so. Now you’re making fools of yourselves, and it’s time some one told you so. I thought I’d be the one, that’s all.”