There was a battle-joy in the mountaineer's eyes and
in them too, was something else inspired by certain dreams of the girl
he had seen only once and whom he had told himself he meant to marry.
Over broken gulches, along precipitous paths he led the way buoyantly
and now and then he broke into low almost inaudible crooning of an
ancient love song.
Vainly the crew of highwaymen in the mine awaited the arrival of the
seeming rescuer who was to take their captive off their hands and
relieve them of the necessity of murder. It had been understood that
Jase was to employ only a few attackers in the accomplishment of this
knightly deed. Few men could be spared from other duties, and the
smaller the force which he led to victory the more lustrous would be
his glory of achievement. There was to be a great deal of shooting and
shouting through the narrow entrance to the place--and the exaggerating
echoes of the rocky confines would multiply it into a convincing din of
battle.
The alleged Ku-Klux clansmen would fight their way out, leaving their
prisoner behind--and in the confusion--but not until then--the
saddle-bags would disappear.
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