"Here's Kirby!" ejaculated one of the men as I pushed my way through the group. "I'll bet he'll make this coon talk!" "Here comes John with the blacksnake!" shouted someone, and a tremor ran through Tope Sorley's shivering body. I pushed aside the butt of the ugly whip thrust eagerly into my hand. "Tope," I said, "you've worked one of my father's farms for years. Has any Buckner ever treated you any way but square?" "Nossuh," came faintly. "Then what are you afraid of? Why don't you speak up? Something's going on in the swamps. _You_ know, and I want you to tell us--why the town niggers have all run away, why Ridge Jackson was killed, why the swamp niggers are acting so mysteriously." "And what kind of devilment that cussed Saul Stark's cookin' up over on Tularoosa!" shouted one of the men. Tope seemed to shrink into himself at the mention of Stark. "I don't dast," he shuddered. "He'd put me in de swamp!" "Who?" I demanded. "Stark? Is Stark a conjer man?" Tope sank his head in his hands and did not answer. I laid my hand on his shoulder. "Tope," I said, "you know if you'll talk, we'll protect you. If you don't talk, I don't think Stark can treat you much rougher than these men are likely to. Now spill it--what's it all about?" He lifted desperate eyes. "You-all got to lemme stay here," he shuddered. "And guard me, and gimme money to git away on when de trouble's over." "We'll do all that," I agreed instantly. "You can stay right here in this cabin, until you're ready to leave for New Orleans or wherever you want to go." He capitulated, collapsed, and words tumbled from his livid lips. "Saul Stark's a conjer man. He come here because it's way off in back-country. He aim to kill all de white folks in Canaan----" A growl rose from the group, such a growl as rises unbidden from the throat of the wolf-pack that scents peril. "He aim to make hisself king of Canaan. He sent me to spy dis mornin' to see if Mistah Kirby got through. He sent men to waylay him on de road, cause he knowed Mistah Kirby was comin' back to Canaan. Niggers makin' voodoo on Tularoosa, for weeks now. Ridge Jackson was goin' to tell Cap'n Sorley; so Stark's niggers foller him and kill him. That make Stark mad. He ain't want to _kill_ Ridge; he want to put him in de swamp with Tunk Bixby and de others." "What are you talking about?" I demanded. Far out in the woods rose a strange, shrill cry, like the cry of a bird. But no such bird ever called before in Canaan. Tope cried out as if in answer, and shriveled into himself. He sank down on the bunk in a veritable palsy of fear. "That was a signal!" I snapped. "Some of you go out there."