I hastily gathered my arms; only one word escaped my lips: “Revenge!” sounded and re-echoed from the deepest recesses of the cavern, and with one wild rush I made for the mouth of the cave; but my two men happening to be there, sprang to their feet and choked up the passage; but near it was another outlet—I dashed through it, and down the steep declivity I hastily made my way, and mounted my horse. But Haile was close after me, and before I could pass around a fallen tree he had my horse by the bridle. “Hold on, Sam! Don‘t be a fool. If you are going to throw your life away, you cannot expect to kill a dozen; if you take your own time you may kill a thousand! If I go back without you, what could I tell your wife and children? Come, Sam, you must not forget your duty to them. See how they have clung to you! ‘Light now, and go with me to the cave.” I have but a faint recollection of going back to our retreat; but when I awoke it was nearly sunset, and Tom soon had me laughing in spite of myself. When night came we moved our position about five miles, to the residence of William Patton, as he was a man whom I particularly wanted; but we were unsuccessful; he was at home when we first went there, but by some means he succeeded in eluding our grasp. We left there, and before daylight we had secreted our horses in a thicket on Turkey Run, a small creek emptying into Big river above Addison Murphy‘s, and had stationed ourselves near the residence of Joe McGahan, on the different roads leading to his house. About eight o‘clock in the morning I concluded that it was fruitless to watch for him any longer; so I proposed to repair to Franklin Murphy‘s residence, which was not more than a mile from where we were; but Tom suggested that we must now return to our horses and consult as to our future movements. We found our horses all right; but when I expressed a desire to stir up Franklin Murphy for being present at the burning of my mother‘s house, and several other little incidents that led me to think strangely of his conduct, Tom Haile replied: “I do not believe that he sanctioned, in any manner, the outrages of which you speak; he could not rescue your brother Frank from the hands of a mob who seemed to have the sanction of public opinion; he could not prevent an army of soldiers, acting under the command of another man, from burning the house, nor from killing your brother Henry. Once for all, let me tell you that it will never do for you to attempt to harm that man. He is a member of a certain Order, that dates back for thousands of years; the members are bound together by an obligation to watch over each other‘s interests, and to shield each other, as much as possible, from any impending danger.” Tom was so sincere, and looked so serious—which was not common with him—that I told him I never would harm one of them, if I knew it, unless it was in self-defense.