“No, no. I am going to give myself up, anyhow. It is the only thing I can do to help them. Perhaps, if these scoundrels get me, they may let the others off. I am the one they are after. But I want you to assist me. You are a gentleman, and can appreciate my position.”
Thurston looked at him a moment, and then reached out his hand.
“Allen, I promise you I will do all I can.”
The two men shook hands across the table; and Steve, settling himself comfortably, gave Thurston an account of all that had taken place between himself and Leech the night of his capture, and between himself and the band of Ku Klux the night they had come to take Leech from the place where he had confined him. He showed Thurston that he had known of the plan to rescue him.
“But why did you carry him off?” asked Thurston. “I can understand all the rest; but I do not see how a man of your sense could have supposed that you could accomplish anything by such an act.”
“It was to gain time, Captain Thurston, and to tide over a crisis; and that it did. You do not know how desperate we are. Let me explain. But for that, Dr. John Cary and Jacquelin Gray would to-day be wearing convict suits. Leech had already appointed the time for that. I tided over that crisis.”
He went on, and gave Thurston an account of all that had taken place in the County under Leech’s régime since Thurston had left. It opened the young officer’s eyes, and, when Steve was through, Thurston’s face was filled with a new sympathy.
“Allen, I will do all I can for you,” he said, again. And he did. He wrote to Middleton and his friends.
The news that Steve Allen had surrendered himself caused the greatest commotion not only there, but throughout the rest of the State. Even far outside the South it was regarded as a most important incident; and the newspapers declared that it was the signal of a complete collapse of the opposition to the Government. Steve was represented as every species of brigand, from the sneaking lawbreaker who entered houses under cover of night to the dashing, bold, mountain robber and desperado who held passes and fought battles with Government troops, and levied tribute on the surrounding country.