"Oh, don't hang me! I ain't fit to die."
"I guess that's right," said Chris Nelson.
"Get a rope—a good, strong rope, and we'll hang him to yonder tree."
They began to drag him to a tree on a small knoll two hundred yards away. He shrieked and howled with fear till all were sickened with his pusillanimity. Finally, on his promise to leave the settlement and never return, they commuted his punishment to a lashing on his bare back, in which all eagerly took part. When it was over the repentant rogue crawled away, bruised and sore. Seldom has retribution been so swift.
CHAPTER XXIII
NEW ARRANGEMENTS
Gerald remained after the others left the cabin. The old man looked at him inquiringly.
"I don't think I know you," he said. "Do you live in the village?"
"No, sir. I was sent here from the East."
Thomas Nixon looked puzzled.