"Why—why, what do you mean?"
"That I reached the ford in time to stop a hundred desperate men who were standing there in the dark waiting for its waters to fall that they might cross and hang you from that beam's end you call a cheap bluff! That I stood there in the moonlight with my arm around their leader for nearly an hour begging, praying, pleading for your damned worthless life! They gave it to me at last because I asked it. No other man could have saved you. Your life is mine to-day! But for my solemn promise to those men that you would revoke that order your body would be swinging at this moment from the Capitol window—will you make good my promise?"
"I'll—I'll consider it," was the waning answer.
"Yes or no?"
"I'll think it over, Governor Carteret—I'll think it over," the trembling voice repeated. "I must consult my friends——"
"I won't take that answer!" the old man thundered in his face. "Revoke that proclamation here and now, or, by the Lord God, I'll send a message to those men that'll swing you from the gallows before the sun rises to-morrow morning!"
"I've got my troops——"
"A hell of a lot of troops they are! Where were they last night—the loafing, drunken cowards? You can't get enough troops in this town to save you. Revoke that proclamation or take your chances!"
The old Governor seized his hat and walked calmly toward the door. The Scalawag trembled, and finally said:
"I'll take your advice, sir—wait a moment until I write the order."